


Persona 4: Renewed

by SpesAeterna



Category: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Bad end, Character Death, Five Stages of Grief, Kinda, New Game Plus, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-11 20:57:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 47,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17454188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpesAeterna/pseuds/SpesAeterna
Summary: Something seems wrong in Inaba, at least for Yu Narukami. With memories of his trip there and his failure to save his friends from the Fog that Adachi brought, he gets to start anew. But somethings different. Is it the girl who gave him a paper after he met his uncle? Or the woman on the train telling stories of crystals? Rated: M for language and mature themes.





	1. Journey Renewed

Chapter 0: Prologue

On a train, on April 11th 52,011 Y.A.S. (2011 A.C.E) Yu Narukami was on his way to start a new school year in Yasoinaba, a small rural town about four hours away from Tokyo. While he had been prepared for complete and utter boredom on the train ride there, he didn't expect to be told a story by a woman sitting across the aisle from him. It was filled with Self-Proclaimed Heroes, soldiers, young kids and old pilots filled with hopes and dreams, Deities and Demigods and their servants, selfish Anti-Heroes, seeresses, The last Human and of An Almighty God and his Savior of souls who overthrew him to get her sister back and to save the extinct humans and bring about a new world for those souls to thrive.

"This Journey is over now. It ended long before you were born." said the woman, as she looked out the window. Yu blinked, and in a flash saw velvet and learned of a tragic mystery soon to take place. And Yu remembered. He remembered being on this train before, going to live with his uncle, meeting friends, creating bonds, trying to solve a serial-murder case, and… failing. Everyone… He remembered his loyal sidekick who loves kung fu, his Detective Princess, his tough guy kohai that could knit anything in the blink of an eye, his chef-in-much-needed-training, his idol pop star who was smitten with him even after all of his rejections, his bearific student who wants to know what it's like to live, and his partner both in the shadow world and in the human world. He remembered all of them and all of their pleas as they were absorbed by the fog. Once he blinked again, he was back on the train just as it was pulling into the station, with a rigid posture and his highly trained mask barely covering his shame and sadness. Both he and the woman walked towards the exit, and as the door slid open Yu could have sworn he heard the woman say "I wonder when the next one will be." under her breath but decided to write it off as him just being tired.

As he stretched his arms out to try to get some feeling back into his stiff shoulders, the woman had taken a total of three small steps before stopping and looking up to the sky with what looked like the first smile she had given in a long, long time judging from how genuine it was. The last time he had seen a smile like that was with Nanako when both of them decided to go walk around the Samegawa Riverbed, with only the sounds of the babbling water and Nanako's giggling of "Big Bro, look at this!". Just the memory of that brought a smile of Yu's own to his face, however, it didn't last long. Just a week after that day and she was gone, kidnapped by Namatame and thrown into the hospital because of that poisonous fog in the TV world. Before Yu could continue down that path of dark and morbid thoughts of what once already happened, he was snapped out of it by the woman's voice.

"I only know…. that soon we'll be together." It was a pretty simple sentence, but behind the words were layers upon layers of emotions, wave after wave of joy, happiness, and sorrow. But the strongest one that Yu could feel, was hope. 'This woman must have gone through a lot of trouble.' he thought. Yu's curiosity took over as he asked the woman, "Expecting someone?"

"Yeah… my sister. Serah Farron." The woman turned around and stuck a hand out to him. "I'm Claire. Claire Farron. I'm going to be staying in Inaba for a while. Is this your first time here too?" Yu shook his head as a negative.

"Yu, Yu Narukami. And no, I've been here before I think. Back when I was a little kid. I'm going to be staying with my uncle for a year until my parents are done on business." Here, Claire looked slightly intrigued.

"You look responsible enough to take care of yourself. And you certainly have this aura of confidence and diligence about you. Why wouldn't they let you stay at home?" A small sorrowful laugh came from Yu.

"When they leave they turn off all the electricity, and water utilities to save money. They hardly pay attention to me anyway, so they just left two days ago without so much of a good-bye. So," here he gestured to himself. "I called my uncle and here I am."

Claire studied him for a minute before giving him a reassuring smile, before reaching into her bag and pulling out a small grey flip phone. "You have a phone?" Claire asked, and was shortly given an answer by him pulling his own phone out. "Here, let me get your number. You can call me whenever you want to talk okay? I've… been through a lack of parents as well so I might be able to help." Yu paused. He didn't really see the harm in it, and this would be the first time in the past multiple years, even the other year he spent in that time that didn't seem to exist anymore, that anyone asked about him. 'Come to think of it, am I the only one that had memories of the past year?... probably not, considering… that they were all swallowed up by that damned Fog. And what am I even supposed to do about Adachi? We failed last time because we weren't strong enough, and now we don't even have that strength anymore!' As he thought and thought throughout that mindset, he eventually asked a question that chilled him to the bone. 'What about all of my Personas!? Do I even have Izanagi anymore? Izanagi! Can you hear me?!' but the only thing he got as an answer was silence. Before he could try again, a hand waved in front of his face.

"Hey, are you alright? You don't look so good…" Claire questioned, concern gracing her face. The poor kid hadn't blinked in the past minute or so, and started to look paler by the second. When she spoke he finally blinked and it looked like it dawned on him that he wasn't alone here. Yu gave her his phone as he said, "Go ahead and put your number in." and was soon given hers in return to do the same. Once he finished, Yu decided to take a quick peek through her contacts only to see that he was the only one on the phone. He was also unaware that Claire had done the same, except to see that Yu only had one other contact of Ryotaro Dojima. Claire deduced that it was his uncle, as he said earlier that he called his uncle. They soon gave each other back their phones.

"Well, I should really go. That reservation at the inn won't stay forever. Call me if you wanna talk, okay?" And as Yu said Good-bye to his acquaintance, he was slightly surprised that he didn't start a social link with the woman. Before he could dwell on it any longer, she was gone and Dojima was coming into view with Nanako in tow, with neither of them seeming to remember them and the meeting went the same as last time with only a single difference. As the Dojimas went to the car and Yu took a step forward, Yu heard a voice behind him call "Wait!"

As he turned, he was greeted with the image of a teenage girl with black hair, a white shirt with a red and black plaid skirt. 'This didn't happen last time. Who is she?' She rose her hand as if to shake hands, but as he did the same, she dropped a piece of paper in his hand. "You dropped this." Yu unrolled it to find that it was the paper he had written Dojima's address on.

"Thanks a lot." Yu said, and almost instantaneously the girl replied, "It's just a piece of paper. I didn't do anything special." And then she was gone. Dazed and confused by the new experiences that he went through on the day he was only supposed to meet the Dojimas.

He really could use a patra right now.


	2. A Dream Renewed

The whole day had gone by the way it had before. His uncle and cousin had come to get him, both of them not seeming to recognize or remember him. This was both a blessing and a curse for Yu, as they didn't have to worry about Nanako being healthy. Hell, it took him everything he had to not sprint towards her and hug her to make sure she was okay. All the progress he did, bringing them closer together as a family, Nanako not having to worry about her father loving her, and Ryotaro not having to worry about raising Nanako properly was all... gone.

Not everything was the same as it was almost a year ago, however, as there was that girl at the train station. She looked like one of those standoff-ish types that you often see in anime. She wasn't there last time, nor through the entire time of Yu being at Inaba. And something else too, or specifically someone else.  _That woman, Claire. She wasn't on the train last time. She did have a good storytelling voice though. Nice and soothing. Almost like an older sibling. Is this what Nanako thought of him?_

He shook his head softly to try and shake his thoughts away. He needed to focus on his situation right now and the new people this time could wait. What about Yosuke? Chie and Yukiko? Kanji and Rise? Teddie and Naoto? Do they all have their memories? Was it just him? Maybe it had to do with him being a Wild Card, or the ability to use multiple Personas?  _Wait a second..._

"Igor!" Yu exclaimed surprisingly. Ryotaro looked over from the driver seat slightly with a questioning look on his face. "Sorry, I just had something stuck in my throat." A look of understanding reached his uncle's face.

"Well we're almost home, so once we get there, you can set up the futon and go take a nap. Hopefully, you feel better tomorrow." Strangely enough, his head started killing him like it did the last time around, just when everyone got back to the car at the gas station. Yu nodded and began his thought process again. The Velvet room was his only hope for any kind of answers at this point. Why was he sent back? The date was the same and everything. Why did this happen? Don't get Yu wrong, he was grateful for a second chance to save his friends. His practical family besides his actual one. Why was it so confusing?

After Yu had finally gotten home and set up the futon, he laid down and closed his eyes. Maybe the next day would be a better day for him.

His dreams, on the other hand, didn't have the same idea. His dream self was on a path of televisions, all of them with the screen red and the whole area surrounded in fog. "All I can do is move forward," Yu said to himself as he began walking along the path. There was an eventual turn in the path that he wasn't prepared for and almost fell off the path. "I should probably pay more attention to the ground I'm walking on..." As Yu reached another turning path, he heard an echoing voice call out to him.

** _"Do you seek the truth...?"_ **

Yu paused for a second. Was he supposed to answer that? He took a deep breath and began walking again, however, didn't make it very far before the voice spoke to him again.

_**"If it's Truth you desire, come and find me..."** _

Well since this whole situation just brought up more questions than answers, I might as well try and find this entity.

Yu continued on the path until he reached what seemed to be a wall with a black and red pattern on it. "Something has to be behind this wall." With a hand now on the wall, he pushed as hard as he could, causing the door to slowly rotate and open up a new path. As Yu entered the area, a Katana appeared in his hand, and a presence appeared before him.

 ** _"So... You are the one pursuing me...Hmhmhm... Try all you like..."_**  The presence called to Yu.

"Is that a challenge? I could take out my confusion and frustration on you!" And with that, Yu swung his katana with all his might, cleaving through the presence in front of him.

"Hmm... It seems that you can see a little, despite the fog..." But before the presence could continue, Yu continued his assault, swinging and attacking to the best of his abilities. After his final vertical swing, a small card appeared in front of him. Without hesitation, Yu crushed the card and with confidence called out.

"IZANAGI! **ZIO!** " As soon as the words left his mouth, lightning surrounded the presence striking it with a thunderous roar.

_ **"I see... Indeed... That is very interesting information... But you will not catch me so easily."** _

With determination rising in his eyes, Yu swung once more at the presence, only for the katana to pass through.

 _ **"If what you seek is 'Truth', then the search will be even harder..."**_  and at those words, the fog around Yu began to grow even thicker. Yu swung again, once more missing his target.

 _ **"Everyone sees what they want to... and the fog only deepens."**_  and the voice wasn't wrong. It was getting even harder to see, Yu couldn't even see his katana any more.

 _ **"...Will we meet again?... At a place other than here... Hmhm... I look forward to it..."**_  Before Yu could understand exactly what the presence was saying, he was in his room in the Dojima household, with the smell of sunny-side-up eggs and Nanako was calling for him to get up.

It was April 12th, 2011, his first day of school in Inaba.

_...Why do I feel like today isn't going to end well?_


	3. School Renewed

"Have a good day, Nanako!" Yu called to his adorable cousin as she walked towards her school. Once she was out of sight, Yu quickly turned around and started to make his way to his new school. Or should he say old? This was getting really annoying. Once he arrived, Yu took a look at his school. Yasogami hasn't changed in the slightest since Yu left on that fateful December 15th, the day when they went after and failed to catch, Adachi.

Yu shook his head, trying to clear out that day from his mind. This was the day he 'met' Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko. Before he got too excited, he thought more rationally for a moment.  _Nanako and Ryotaro didn't remember me, and I don't wanna freak them out. I'll just play it cool, and act like I did last time, with some few minor adjustments of course_. Yu chuckled lightly, J _ust wait till I get 'meet' King Moron!_  He noticed that he was right on time to go to the office to find his homeroom teacher. Upon opening the door, Mr. Morooka turned and glared at him.

"So, you're the new transfer student, huh?" Before Yu cold respond, Morooka started to walk out of the office. "Well come on, I don't got all day!" Yu decided to wait until he was in front of the class, to respond to him. After a few awkwardly silent seconds, they were in the classroom with Mr. Morooka commanded the class with an "Awright, shut your traps."  _It was silent when we walked in though..._  Yu thought to himself. Before he could speak his thoughts though, Morooka continued oh his spiel. "I'm Kinshiro Morooka, and I'll be your homeroom teacher from today forward! First things first! Just cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons! As long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!"

_What is with this guy? Was it really that bad the first time around?_

"Now I hate wasting my time, but I better introduce this transfer student."

_About time!_

"This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage."

_...Say what?_

"And he's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!"

 _Who are_ you _calling a loser?!_

"Tell 'em your name, kid, and make it quick."

"... You're calling  _me_  a loser?" Out of the corner of his eye, he could see everyone seemed surprised at his words and if not his words, then definitely his tone. It was the same tone that he spoke to Nametame with when the whole team thought he was the one behind all the kidnappings, and the same tone when he confronted Adachi. A tone of pure hatred and silent fury. Why was he scared of this guy the first day of school all those months ago? He's faced much worse than King Moron, and he's paid the price for it too.

"Hrnh... that's it, you're on my shit list, effective immediately." Yu subtly rolled his eyes. As Morooka continued his speech, Yu tuned him out and focused on his classmates' reaction, specifically Yosuke's, Chie's, and Yukiko's. Yosuke was practically dying in the back, probably still in pain from the bicycle accident that he had. Chie was looking on at him in awe and wonder, while Yukiko... had the smallest of smiles on her face, which made Yu also grin a bit. After being practically family with Chie and Yukiko, he got to the point that he knew that in public, Yukiko's small polite smile meant that her thoughts were elsewhere at the time.

After a good amount of time into Morooka's speech, Chie rose her hand. "Excuse me! Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?" This interruption caused Morooka to remember he had to actually start class today.

"Huh? Yeah, sure. Ya hear that? Your seat's over there. So hurry up and siddown already!" After a quick nod from Yu, he quickly moved to sit down next to Chie. Immediately after Yu sat, Chie leaned over to him.

"He's the worst, huh? Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class... Well, we just have to hang in there for a year." With a small smile to Chie, he joked back to her.

"Yeah, I'm not sure we can survive this ordeal on our own. But maybe together we may have a chance of making it to at least summer."

Chie giggled as the whole class started to talk about Yu. "Sucks to be the transfer student, ending up in King Moron's Class on the first morning here."

"Yeah, he won't think twice about suspending you if you get on his bad side. Then again, we're all in the same boat..."

"Shut your traps! I'm taking roll and I damn well expect you to respond in an orderly manner!"

_I don't know exactly how I'm going to go about this. It's been so long that I barely remember what happens next. I know that last night that Ms. Yamano goes into the Midnight Channel, but I don't even have a weapon, let alone a Persona. Izanagi came to me once I went in with Yosuke to try to find out what happened to Saki-senpai. I can't risk it, otherwise, they may be lost to the Shadows or the Fog again._

Yu was shaken from his thoughts as the intercom came to life.

"ATTENTION, ALL TEACHERS. PLEASE REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO THE FACULTY OFFICE FOR A BRIEF STAFF MEETING."

So they found the body. If I remember correctly, Chie is gonna come up to me and introduce herself and Yukiko soon.

Sure enough, the sirens of a police car went by the school. Now all to do was wait unti- "Hey are you going home by yourself? Why don't you come with us? Oh, nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?" That.

 _But wait, Does... does that mean she doesn't remember me?_  and after around after an hour of walking, Yu had an answer to his question. Nope. Neither of them. Not a single one of them. There was no recognition in any one of their eyes, none in Chie's, none in Yukiko's, none in Yosuke's.

 _No one remembered me... Not even my partner..._  Once he got home and once Nanako went to bed, Yu got in the shower and let the water mask his tears.


	4. Journey's End

"Come forth, Persona!"  _That voice… shouldn't sound that panicked._  " **Salvation**!" She never should have to use that ability.  _The only reason she would is if something drastic happened like…_  Yu opened his eyes to see Yukiko Amagi use her strongest healing ability on Chie.  _But why is she using it on Chie? And why is… oh no…_  The answer to his question came quickly, as he saw Chie Satonaka lying in the middle of the fog infested road, one leg bent at a very unnatural angle and the other one was…  _n_ _ot there…_  It took all of Yu's willpower not to throw up at that time. From the battles they had in the T.V. world, to even the Hospital he worked part-time at, he was not prepared for that amount of blood to be surrounding his friend.

It wasn't surprising that Chie was the first to go down on that day. She was always the Glass Cannon of the Investigation Team, always demolishing shadows that came her way, but also always taking the most damage. That was one of the bad points of being on the front lines with him. And he could do nothing, his body couldn't move. He was frozen in place, watching his friend, his Chariot, crumble before him.

"Why. Isn't. It. WORKING?!" Screamed Yukiko, doing everything in her power to stop the blood from pouring out of her best friend. Even the mightiest healing spell couldn't save Chie's life. They would need to go to a hospital. But they couldn't. They were the only ones left. Them and the Shadows.

As Chie's body fell limp, Yukiko let out a blood-curdling scream. As she rose from the corpse's side, and as the tears rolled down her face, the Shadows around them began to burn. The Amagi Inn's Heiress crushed her Tarot card once more, but instead of her original Persona, it was different, even ugly to a certain point. If one looked hard enough, they could see Konohana Sakuya as the base of her new Persona, Hisa-Me. It was terrifying to look at, and its wake of destruction was on a whole new level. Even Yu's **Ragnarok** after a **Fire Amp** was nowhere close to making that kind of damage and destruction. With every toss of her fans, new flames appeared in their wake. Her death was the second one that day, getting hit time and time again from the Shadows' **Bufudyne** spells, eventually being frozen solid and then destroyed and scattered everywhere. And, once again, Yu was powerless, unable to protect his Priestess.

Teddie was the next to go. While Ted wasn't necessarily the worst physical attacker of the group, he was definitely the most innocent of the group and didn't seem to understand that **Samarecarm** only works on unconscious people. It wasn't really his fault that in the chaos of everything that he didn't know that they wouldn't wake up again. He wasn't prepared for the **Megidolaon** that slammed into his back, sending him flying into the nearby Samegawa. Teddie's suit sank to the bottom like a rock. And Yu's Star ceased to shine in the heavy fog.

No one was prepared when Kanji perished. It had just seemed as though the fighting had slowed down, and the sun had begun to set when one of the muscular shadows emerged from the treeline and went straight for a dazed and exhausted Naoto. The way Kanji saved her was pretty badass, and Yu just wished with all his might that he could move so he could do something besides stand there and see his Kohai sacrifice himself. The soft-hearted boy, no soft-hearted man - Kanji deserved that much at least - had drop-kicked Naoto out of the line of fire. And Kanji took the hit like a champ, letting the Shadow's first slam directly into his forehead. The dyed-blond retaliated and with a single punch, the Shadow was defeated. That blow that Kanji took to the head, however, rattled his brain too hard against his skull, and soon Kanji was out of commision. His body was failing him, each blow getting sloppier than the last, and Naoto finally ended Kanji's suffering per his request. Kanji's last moments were of him smiling, saying he was proud to have fought with them all, and that he was sorry that he wasn't strong enough to protect his brain from damage. Naoto said it was a terrible day for rain, although the only water nearby was the riverbed, and it was far too light outside for there to be clouds in the sky, even with it being close to sunset. Yu's Emperor was dethroned.

The remaining four gathered together, forming a triangle around Rise, keeping the Navigator safe from harm. With Naoto mentally exhausted from casting **Mudoons** and **Hamaons** back to back with no breaks, and their source of restorative items falling quickly, it was decided that they would need a place to recuperate, and they would need someone to go get supplies. The group decided that Rise's home was the closest to any nearby place with the usual Soul Drops they used to revitalize themselves. Once in the tofu shop, they sealed off the whole place, leaving the upstairs window to Rise's bedroom the only thing left unblocked. With Naoto barely conscious, and Rise unable to fight, it was decided that Yu would stay with them and that Yosuke with the ability to use **Sukukaja** would be the best one to run to Junes and get some supplies. Once Yosuke opened the window, he turned to Yu with the smallest smile on his face. "Later, Partner." and without another word, he left. Fifteen minutes passed and the ground started to rumble, and Yu ran back to the window, ready to face resistance. In the distance, he could see Junes, and after a blink, the building started to fall apart, as if it collapsed on itself. Naoto, with her last bit of strength, flew up from the bed and pushed Yu away from the window with a shout of "Senpai!" There was a loud bang, and Naoto fell to the floor, a gaping hole through her skull, in the exact same place she shot Kanji. And Yu's Fortune was crushed. He was unable to act once again.

With a look outside, Yu saw the culprit, a bear Shadow, dressed as a police officer holding a gun. He moved away from sight, and just as he did, the bear shot the window once again, shattering it. Yu turned to Naoto and took her gun off of her, and counted the remaining bullets in the chamber. There were only five of them left, but soon the number went to four as Yu shot the Shadow that killed Naoto. It took an hour for Rise to stop crying. Soon enough, they left the tofu shop to head to the destroyed supermarket. They were still going to need supplies if they were going to try to live through all this after all, and Junes had a bigger medicine department than everywhere but the hospital, and the hospital was pretty far away. Just outside of the wreckage of Junes, they found Yosuke buried underneath some rubble.

"Good to see ya…. partner."  _How are you still smiling? Your body is practically destroyed and Rise and I are the only ones left alive now! The whole town was swallowed by the fog ten hours ago, and the whole country is probably gone now too!_  "Partner… Yu… please. It hurts. Everything hurts Yu… I can't stand it… make the pain… stop... please…" Yosuke coughed up a large amount of blood. Yu couldn't hold in his tears.

"Later… Partner." And with a loud heart-wrenching bang, the Magician played his last trick.

Yu wasn't prepared for a second bang, and neither was Rise. Yu turned around only to see Rise fall to the ground, hands flying to her chest as it was slowly growing more and more crimson. There was no longer a Lover. In a second, only the Fool was left. The Fool… And the Jester.

"How does it feel, now that I beat you? Are you pissed? Miserable? Frustrated? Hahaha, that's what its like to lose! All of your miserable friends? Dead! All of your power? Gone! Hahahaha! HaHaHaHaHa! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Jester laughed manically, throwing his head up towards the now dark sky, only a faint visible street light illuminating them both. In his hand, his revolver spun around lazily, the other resting on his hip. "Go on, try and stop me." Yu reached out with his katana and broke a card floating in front of him.

"Surt!" He called out. Nothing happened. Adachi just smiled. With determination he cried out again, breaking another card, "Tzitzimitl!" Once again nothing. Fear started to take place in Yu. "Pabilsag!" "Thor!" "Norn!" "Helel!" "Ishtar!" "Loki!" Not a single one answered his calls.

"You know why those Personas of your's aren't coming to you kid? Because they all represent your bond with one of your friends, with your little investigation group or whatever. And guess what? Your friends? DEAD! And it's not really a group with one person now is it?" Adachi yawned. "This is boring me. I'll give you one last shot, how does that sound? I mean, at least you get a chance to prolong your  **death.** "

"IZANAGI!" And this time, when the card broke something appeared. It was his first Persona, His own Persona. It didn't stay long out too long though. Yu's spirit was out, completely run dry from the constant fighting all day. He collapsed to his knees, barely able to remain upright. But he wasn't done, not by any means. He rose Naoto's gun and fired once, shooting Adachi's gun out of his hand, twice, shooting Adachi in the throat, killing him instantly. And then, as Yu's eyes began to close, and as his body started to fall the rest of the way down, the gun went off a final time, going straight through Yu's head, with one last thought going through his mind.

_Per…. So…. Na_


	5. Tv Adventures and Magician Renewed

And in a flash of white, Yu shot up from his futon in his uncle’s house. He started to hyperventilate, pulling out his phone and checking the date. April 15th, 2011. It was a nightmare. A more grotesque vision of that fateful night, with more blood, more pain, but with the same amount of heartbreak and death. It wasn’t going to happen again, not this time around at least. He wouldn’t let it. As Yu looked up to the sky on his way to school, he saw a few birds fly towards the sun, resembling the letters: ‘m’ ‘m’ ‘U’ ‘T’ ‘n’ and ‘Y’ with the sun seeming to make the letter ‘O’.

“I won’t let that mistake happen again. I’m also not going to let that mistake drag me down any more. I have to keep moving forward.” Yu picked up his pace to the school.  “If I remember correctly, this should be the day they find Saki-senpai dead. Some things were different this time around though, so I’ll have to try not to change too much, otherwise my memories won’t be of use to me. Hopefully this battle today will go by easily. It’s kind of weird that even though I heard Izanagi’s voice on Wednesday when I put my hand in the TV, I still haven’t heard anything from my other self since then. Fortunately, the TV didn’t try to eat me this time.” He sighed in relief.  _ How am I supposed to get them to come inside the TV world with me this time? Does Chie’s family still need a TV? That could work. Should this play around correctly like the previous time, I get Izanagi to finally come forth just before Yosuke and I enter Saki’s liquor store.  _

***AFTERNOON: April 15th, 2011***

“Still, of all the things you could’ve gotten me for a weapon, why a golf club? I mean, a bat would of been much more sturdy and have a greater area to deal damage instead of his small driver at the end and not to mentio-”

“OKAY I GET IT, I COULD’VE PICKED SOMETHING BETTER. DROP IT. Jeez, I can’t even catch a break on my day off.” Yu laughed at Yosuke’s expense. The fight against Yosuke’s Shadow had been a breeze, with Izanagi showing up just in the nick of time again. However, something was different about Izanagi. Not in a bad way, he still sounded the same like he did the last go around, but he had more abilities. Instead of just Cleave, Zio, and Rakukaja, Izanagi also held the ability Raikouzan, which allowed him to charge both Yu’s golf club and Izanagi’s Naginata with electric powers. To say that Shadow Yosuke put up a fight was a huge overstatement. Before Yu could think about it further, he and Yosuke were in front of Teddie’s TV sets to return to Junes. 

“Oh no…” The Fool gulped, vaguely remembering what happened next in his memories. 

“What’s up? Not feeling well? Don’t worry we’re almost out of here.” Yosuke tried to reassure. 

“It’s not that.” Yu shook his head slowly before looking his friend dead in the eye. “Satonaka.” was all he said and all he had to say as Yosuke’s face paled significantly, before he turned to Teddie.

“Teddie get us out of here, now!” Suddenly worried about his new friends sudden change in demeanor, he did his best to push them through the TV’s. Before Yu was all the way through to the other side, he spoke up to the friendly shadow.

“Don’t worry Ted, we will be back soon okay?” And then he was gone from the Shadow World, and on the floor of the Junes Electric Department. Chie was sitting there on her knees, looking confused, scared, and worried. 

“Oh! You guys are back already? When the rope snapped just now, I didn’t know what to do, but then you guys are already back and I’m so relieved-” Yosuke stopped her rambling with a question that was soaring through Yu’s mind at a million miles a second. 

“Wait wait, slow down a second there Chie, we were in there for maybe half-an-hour, what do you mean the rope snapped, ‘just now’?” The kung-fu fan seemed just as confused as them. 

“Just a few seconds ago, you both walked inside the TV, the rope snapped, then you guys are already back and I’m so reliev- Oh God, are you okay?! Narukami!?”  _ Okay so some things are different this time around. There was the woman, I think her name was Claire or something? She wasn’t on the train last time. And that girl that handed me that paper… she wasn’t there the first time either. And now instead of real-time translating over to the Shadow world, time seems to almost stop all together.  _ Yu was shaken by his thoughts from Chie grabbing his left arm. “Narukami?!”

“What is it Satonaka-san? And could you let go of my arm? You’re kind of hurting me…” She quickly let go, her hand stained a deep crimson red. “Are you bleeding?”  _ Shit, this was NOT supposed to happen. And now I probably sound like an asshole for ignoring her before hand. _ Yu went to grab her forearm but as he did he winced in pain. “Ouch, what in the-” His eyes widened as he stared at his arm. There was a large slash along it, from just below his shoulder to above his elbow and blood was slowly dripping down his arm. “How did that happen?”

**_*Flashback*_ **

“FOOOOORE!” Yu cried as he pulled back his golf club and launched it forward, flinging Shadow Yosuke into the air.

**_“Oh no you don’t! Take this!”_ ** Shadow Yosuke flipped around in the air and swiped one of his massive arms at Yu, sending a razor sharp gust of wind directly towards him planning to cut him vertically in half.  _ I don’t have anything to block this, and Izanagi is weak to wind! This could actually injure me pretty bad… think quickly Narukami, come on…  _ But he was out of time to think as he quickly turned his body and took most of the damage to his arm causing the aforementioned cut to happen. 

Before the Shadow had time to react or send another razor wind to finish the job, Yu quickly swapped the golf club into his right hand, twirling it around and launching it like a javelin at Shadow Yosuke with a roar. “Izanagi! Raikouzan!” And just before the club reached the Shadow, Yu crushed the Tarot card holding Izanagi, covering the club in lightning stabbing into the frog monster thing as Izanagi appeared behind it and pierced the Shadow’s neck with his own electrified Naginata.

**_*End Flashback*_ **

“Oh. I remember what happened now. I should really consider a shield or something….” Yu looked up to see Chie, who looked like she was about to cry, and Yosuke who came back from behind the counter holding a first aid kit. “Here, let me take this from you.” Yu grabbed the first aid kit, and opened it up, looking through the contents. After digging for a while, he finally grabbed a small rope of Beads “I’m using this.” Yu handed back the first aid kit back to Yosuke. “Thanks Hanamura.”

“But that’s not-” Here he was interrupted by a quick command from Yu.

“Cover me.” And the Fool stuck his left arm and head through the TV, entering those parts into the Shadow World. He took one of the Beads off the rope and quickly crushed it against his wound, causing it to heal instantly, even stitching the muscle and skin back together. Yu gently pressed against the now healed wound to see how sore it would be. He nodded his head with a small smile now gracing his face.  _ Perfect. _

Once he was back outside, he showed his arm to the both of them. “See? I’m fine. Sorry about the mess though Hanamura.” Both of their eyes widened, Chie’s in shock, Yosuke’s in amusement. 

“I shouldn’t really be shocked by this. I mean, considering what you did in there.” Chie got that look in her eye that he knew she got when she was interested in something. Yu smiled and shook his head.

“You make sure to tell her everything, Hanamura. Satonaka, I would tell you myself, however I’m exhausted. I’ll see you both tomorrow okay?” And with a wave to them both, he left Junes to go take a nap. Later that night, it began to rain shortly after 11:30. 

_ Just in time for the Midnight Channel. _ He thought, finishing sewing up his uniform’s sleeve to avoid questions about it tomorrow. After a quick shower, Yu sat on his little two-seater couch and waited patiently for midnight to strike. Just like last time, the faded image was wearing a kimono. Once again, Yukiko was wearing a kimono just the other night, sitting by the Samegawa.  _ That means the order as of now seems to be the same. That’s a comfort to know, I think.  _

With a loud and long yawn, Yu stood up from the couch and moved over to his futon. All of his energy spent since his body and mind wasn’t used to expending this kind of energy yet. His eyes closed for a moment, then opened slowly once again. Except this time he wasn’t in his room, laying on his futon. He hasn’t been to this room in a while, and hadn’t seen the inhabitants in a long time. 

 

**“Welcome back, to the Velvet Room my dear young man.”**

* * *

Igor sat at the front of the limousine, hands folded and placed under his chin, his long nose and large eyes being the most noticeable thing about him. To his left sat Margaret, sitting as regal as ever a slight look of sorrow in her eyes. On his left were two new members of the Velvet Room, one was a female, the one who gave Yu the paper to him as he exited the train, the only difference being that she now wore a blue cap with the letter “V” on it, most likely to represent the Velvet Room. The other was a male, with the same platinum blond hair that Margaret had. Both of the newcomers had bright green eyes. 

“Igor! Oh man, it’s great to see you! You have NO idea how confused I am about all this and-” Margaret silenced him, with a stern glance. 

**“We, Igor and I that is, know of your… situation young Narukami.** ” _Uh oh… Did her social link go down? Or is she just that stressed? Or… Perhaps embarrassed because of her master’s presence?_ **“Things are not as... simple anymore.”** Yu tilted his head and before he could speak Igor once again spoke up.

**“You need another key don’t you? Take this one. Our Time here is almost up. We will explain more soon enough. I believe you know what happens soon correct? You have already gotten your Persona back and young Hanamura’s Persona back to him as well. You’ve noticed some other things as well, such as your new ability that you’ve put to good use. As of right now, you have only one social link, you do remember those as well correct?”** After a nod from Yu, Igor continued.  **“The Empress is the only one you have and is currently maxed out. You will be able to talk more in due time. Just remember, these people you see outside of this room? They are not the same people you met before. Yes, they may act the same, may talk the same, may even have the same past, but they aren’t the same. The only people who are the same and that know you as you are is both myself and Margaret. Time is short. And remember, even though it is avoidable for you to not get arrested, Yosuke would be there longer without you being there. Just make sure that you do all the talking.”** With a smile and a wave, the velvet around him began to fade. 

***April 16th, 2011** **Early Morning***

 

Yu’s eyes opened and met a rather large pair of eyes staring at him. 

“...Izanagi?”

“ Yes? ” The Fool sighed before rolling out of bed.

“How long have you been watching me sleep?”

“ I came into existence just a few seconds ago, and then you began to stir. ” 

_ This is going to be a lonnnnnnng day. Welp, now’s the time to start working back up my Social Links. _

On the way to school, Yosuke rode up behind him on his bike. “Yo! How’s your arm doing, man? Everything still working?” Yu gently punched his own left arm.

“Seems to be in working condition.” He tensed his muscles and waited for the soreness to affect him, but it never came.  _ Ah, the glory of the Bead. I still don’t know what exactly happens to make it heal us, but whatever. Magic is Magic. _

Yosuke just shook his head and smiled. “From the cut you had yesterday you shouldn’t even be able to be walking around, and here you are, punching your arm.” He gave a quick laugh. “You’re really something else.”

Soon enough, the conversation went exactly as it did in the past, however something was different. Not the conversation but what happened midway into the conversation. The Social Link.

**"Thou art I... And** **I am thou... Thou hast re-established a bond once lost to the fog... Thy bond is now dubbed as the Magician: Renewed… Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Magician Arcana: Renewed ."**

_ What the hell? I REALLY have to talk to Igor now. Izanagi? Do you have any ideas? _

Unfortunately not. I also, have yet to understand exactly why we can see each other this time, and yet not this time.

Yosuke waved a hand in front of his face. “You okay, man?” Yu shook his head.

“Must just be tired from yesterday. Let’s get to class man.”

And with that, the Fool and the Renewed Magician walked to class, only to be assaulted by a distraught Chie, quietly whispering to the both of them once they walked in.

“Yukiko is missing!” She was really close to tears. Yu put his hand on her shoulder. He remembered this the last time around and all it took was a simple call to the Inn and everything was fine.

“Have you called the Inn? Maybe she is working a little bit later?” Chie violently shook her head.

“She’s not there!”  _ Wait, what? _

Yu sat her down and had Yosuke block the rest of the classes view of her. “What do you mean? Then she should be here right? Have you called her?” She nodded, and relief filled Yu.

“No answer.” Only for the relief to leave very quickly after that. “Narukami… did you watch the Midnight Channel last night?” He paled.  _ No. No no no. Shit! _

“I was too exhausted from saving Yosuke…” Yu quietly spoke. Yosuke threw in his two Yen as well.

“Having to face your innermost demons really tires you out, so I didn't either. But, I don’t really see how this matters...” It took him a few seconds, before he quietly spoke what was going through Yu’s mind.

“Unless… she's inside the T.V. world…..”


	6. Old Friend and New Velvet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An:/ For future reference, here are what the fonts mean. "Regular Dialogue." Yu's thoughts "Velvet Room Attendants or A Mysterious Figure" Deity of somekind(like a Persona) Spoilers for this chapter Spoilers for chapter This is also one of the longer chapters I've written. It's taken a few days while I was working so I hope it came out okay. Please let me know.

Once school finally let out so that the three could continue discussing what happened to Yukiko. Chie was the first to speak, determination filling her eyes. "I'm going in this time."

Yu shook his head. "We can't go in today." Before either of the two of them could protest, he continued. "When both Yosuke and I went in yesterday, the only weapon we had was a golf club. Not to mention, my arm almost got cut off. We are not going in there unless we have some armor, and some better weapons." Chie paled, remembering the large amount of blood that was pouring down his arm as he exited the T.V. shortly after he entered. Yosuke however, seemed to have an idea.

"Tomorrow is Sunday, so we will meet at the Junes food court then. I got some weapons that we may be able to use hidden away in my attic, so we could use those!"  _I forgot which day that we got arrested on. I guess tomorrow is as good a day as any. Igor did say to let it happen, but to do all the talking._

"Yosuke if we get arrested because of you, I swear I will never let you live it down." Yu began to walk away, only to be stopped by Chie grabbing his now healed arm. The Fool turned to look back at her, seeing tears threatening to spill. "Don't worry Satonaka. I promise, I will do everything in my power to save her and protect all of you." He then smiled and tried to joke. "But if you squeeze my arm any tighter, I'll have to learn how to write with my right arm." Chie gave a weak punch on his arm as he laughed.

They all went their separate ways, and time seemed to go ever so slowly as Yu waited for the Midnight Channel.  _Would it be the same? Or is it going to be different? Technically we already saw Yukiko's video last night. What about the day after? I don't think anyone in the old Investigation Team ever watched it twice in a row._

Yu didn't know how right he was about it being different. It was inside the castle, were Yukiko last ran off too in the "show". But there was something different. Instead of the royal dress she was wearing last time, she was wearing her usual school outfit. And something else was different as well. It was her eyes. They weren't the bright yellow of that of a shadow, nor of the actual brown the original had. They were silver, and staring directly at him.

" _Yu-kun."_ _But we aren't close enough for that. Not yet at least. What is going on?_ " _Can you hear me Yu-kun? It's me, Yukiko. The one that… died."_ _No… way…_

"Y-Yukiko? Is… it really you?" And with a nod and a small sad smile, the Priestess nodded.

" _Yes. Hi Yu-kun. It's good to see you again."_  Tears began to pool up in the Fool's eyes, and as he got up from his couch, he walked closer to the T.V. " _No Yu-kun! You musn't!_ " He stopped just an inch before reaching into the T.V. Yu fell to his knees, tears finally falling.

"I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry I couldn't save you…" Yu could see the ice holding Yukiko shatter, and his heart broke a bit more. "I'm sorry I didn't melt you! I'm sorry I didn't help!" The fallen Priestess stayed silent, and let the Fool grieve. "I'm sorry I failed you! Why did you have to die!?" In hind sight, Yu would look back and be very grateful that His Uncle was working late and Nanako was at a friend's house that night. "WHY DAMN IT!?"

It took a couple of seconds, but Yu eventually looked up into Yukiko's now silver eyes. " _Yu-kun, I forgive you. Please, try to relax. I've come here to inform you of something. This world you're in now, I can't exist in it. However, in_ this  _world I can. When you enter the Shadow World to save her -the other Yukiko- reach for the bond that we had. I will respond in kind. I don't have much time left, but Yu-kun remember this please."_ She paused, giving Yu time to absorb all the information he could. " _The Yukiko you knew, The Yukiko you see before you, will cease to exist when this channel ends tonight. Please Yu-kun… Keep Moving Forward. I… I always thought of you as our World within the Investigation Team. Maybe you could be the World for them. I... I always lov-"_ And then the T.V. turned off.

"Yukiko? Damn it!" Yu punched the floor as hard as he could, drawing blood on his knuckles. "I'll do it Yukiko. I'll keep moving forward."

Do not be afraid. I shall always be with you. Let us get some rest. We must go save her tomorrow. Izanagi rested his hand on Yu's shoulder, offering his support.

The Fool dreamed of his Priestess that night.

***April 17th, Sunday, Early Morning***

"Yosuke, why are you brandishing those weapons in public, during a Serial Murder investigation?"

"Uh…"

"FREEZE!" A cop yelled as he approached the two Persona users. Yu sighed and raised his hands. Yosuke started to move his arms rapidly, forgetting about the katana and knife in his hands. Before the cops had time to react, Yu quickly stood in front of Yosuke stopping the fake blades with his body.

"Yosuke, what part of FREEZE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!" Yu hissed as he calmly raised his hands and placed them on his head. He slowly turned around in a peaceful manner. One of the cops handcuffed him and the other one disarmed Yosuke.

"Not letting you live this down. Now stay silent and let me do the talking. I will motion to you when it's safe to speak alright?" Soon enough they were thrown into an interrogation room with his Uncle Ryotaro being the interrogator. A stern frown was on his face the moment he laid eyes on him.  _He looks very disappointed._ "Hello Uncle. This doesn't seem like the best time, but this here is my friend Yosuke Hanamura."

Dojima let out a loud sigh. "So, why is it, that not only one week here, and you are in a police station?"

"Well Detective, that is a fantastic question. And I will happily answer it. You see, Yosuke had this great idea about us going to a convention in the City. We were going to cosplay and everything, try and stand out you know? Well I had the Idea of us making our own costumes instead of buying really expensive ones. So I told Yosuke last night, 'Hey, why don't we go over the designs over at Junes? That way once we have the designs, we can go buy some fabric here and take it over to that textile shop that's in the shopping district." Yu took a quick breath before explaining again. "Well it turns out that Yosuke had some fake weapons for our cosplays. He wanted to show me for our designs so we could decide who exactly we wanted to be. I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't mention to him to keep them at his house so I could see them once we had all the materials and went to the textile shop to see what we could do with them. Turns out, I really should have, as one of the officers noticed and promptly arrested us. He was really quick about it too. Didn't even wait for us to try to explain ourselves in the first place." Dojima blinked before nodding in understanding.

"Wish he would've, that way we wouldn't have to waste time here. You're free to go. Oh, and Hanamura?" Yosuke looked back to the Detective. "Keep the cosplay weapons at home okay? At least until we get this case solved."

Yosuke nodded very swiftly. "Will do sir! I'm terribly sorry about this incident, it's just been a long time since I've had someone to talk cosplay with, and I guess I forgot about the entire situation." He bowed swiftly before leaving both relatives in the room. Dojima looked at Yu questioningly.

"He's an oddball, but he's also a good friend. Will Nanako and I see you at home for dinner?" His uncle looked uncomfortable.

"I hope so. Usually after the paperwork, I could go but we got a missing persons report just before your little… incident. We have to start investigating and try and find where Yukiko Amagi went. She was with you that one day after School, you have any idea where she might be?" Yu raised his hand to his chin and pretended to think.

"Amagi-san works at the Inn right? She might be under a lot of stress and trying to relax a little. Besides the Inn, where would that be? Maybe near the Samegawa? That's the closest place to relaxing that I've found in my week here. Other than that the only other places I know are Junes, the Shopping district, and School, which aren't exactly the most relaxing places." The Fool walked out of the room waving at his uncle. "I hope you find her!"

Yu quickly walked with Yosuke out of the Police Station, just as Chie walked up to them both. "What happened?! When I showed up at Junes, you both were being taken away in police cars!" Yu put a hand on her shoulder to placate her.

"It's alright Satonaka. Yosuke here decided to pull out the weapons in public in a crowded food court. Once this is all said and done, I will never let you live it down, Yosuke. The only problem now is, we need weapons and armor."

Chie perked up and a few minutes later she dragged them into Daidara Metal Works. They were greeted by the owner, and then they all broke off to see what they wanted to buy. Chie, was already done with her set of Grieves to amplify and protect her legs. Yosuke wanted to buy some Kunai, but bought some wrenches to practice with, thanks to Yu and Daidara's influence. However, the Fool was conflicted. He was most experienced with a Katana, but he was also in harms way, just as he was in the T.V. World with his arm almost being cut off. Something kept drawing his attention in the shop though, a long beautiful blade, crimson red and hints of yellow to emphasize the sharp black blade, and a large shield, enough to cover his entire arm. He rose a hand to touch it, to see how the weapon and shield felt on him. The Shop Owner halted him, grabbing his hand just before it could touch the blade. His grip was tight and shaking almost as if he was scared of the outcome of Yu touching it.

"You can't have that one. It's being saved for someone else. I can, however, offer you something similar." In a few seconds, the owner returned with a holster and a giant gun. Yu pulled it out of the holster and stared at it, taking in all the details. "Give it a flick of your wrist!" Diadara told him, waiting to see the Fool's face when the gun transformed into a sword.  _Oh shit! This look fantastic! It doesn't have the same pull that the other weapon seems to have, but it still feels… right to have it in my hand. Nice. How much is the price though?_  Before he could ask, a shield was thrusted into his other hand. It was smaller than the other one, with a symbol on it that Yu couldn't really understand. It was of moderate weight, but it felt like it fit perfectly to his arm. "Perfect! Ah, I've been waiting to sell these for such a long time… You see young one, these Weapons were built very long ago under the hands of Gods and Goddesses! Only those with Pure Intentions and Passion can wield these weapons." Yu put on the holster and switched the blade back into gun form, after wards he put on the shield.

"These are fantastic, but I'm a little nervous. This gun-blade has got to be expensive, not to mention this shield too." Yu trailed off, before noticing the smile on his face. "What?"

"Those are yours now kid. You see, that sword and shield that you were so attracted too earlier? Those can't be seen by the human eye. Only one who has been touched by a deity can see them, as they were made for a certain someone eons ago. Hardly anyone remembers them. They were used by someone called the Saviour. Ultima Weapon and Ultima Shield are their names. These weapons you have on you now can't be seen by just anyone either. We have been keeping these weapons and armor for chosen ones for a long time, making sure they are taken care of. You have on you now the Blazefire Saber and Goddess's Grace. According to old legends, the Blazefire Saber was used by the Saviour thousands of years before this world was born and uses the energy of the user to fire its bullets. The Goddess's Grace however, was used by the Knight of Etro, years after the Saviour had finished using the Blazefire Saber. The shield can block any attack, as long as some part of the attack hits it. You must be destined for great things young one. For payment? Come back with some materials you may find elsewhere. I will take those to make some new weapons and armor. Now you must go. Your friends seem to be waiting for you." Yu was pushed gently out of the store.

Yosuke and Chie had mixed reactions to him coming out. Chie just stared at him, seemingly confused, while Yosuke was eyeing up his new gear. "Nice choice man! It looks really cool!"

"What are you talking about? I don't see anything different about him, let alone any weapon or armor about him." Yosuke turned to question her sanity, before Yu nudged him.

"No time, we got someone to rescue. After I get some medical supplies, I'll meet you guys at Junes." With a nod Chie quickly took off to Junes. Yosuke hesitated but with a stern look from Yu, he also went towards the super store. Once they were out of sight, Yu turned around and walked next to a glowing blue door next to Diadara's. Once he opened it, he was welcomed by a familiar voice.

" **Welcome back to the Velvet Room."** Margaret's voice called from the limousine. Once his eyes adjusted from the sudden lack of light, he could see his Empress sitting upon where she always sat, the Compendium in her hands. " **Now that you have come here of your own free will, you are able to stay as long as you like. As you know, time will stop here, just as it does inside of the Shadow World. I believe it's time that we introduce you to the new members of the Velvet Room that you have yet to meet. This is Marie."** Here she gestured to the girl that he saw back at the train station, and again in the Velvet Room. Marie seemed to have a blank stare on her face, off into the distance. " **And this is Hope."** Margaret now gestured to the boy who seemed a few years younger than him. He smiled back at him and gave a small wave.

" _ **It's a pleasure to meet you!"**_  Hope greeted, " _ **I wish we had time to speak earlier, but time was scarce. Izanagi seems to be your Main Persona correct?"**_ Almost as summoned by his name, a smaller human sized Izanagi appeared next to Yu.

That is correct. Izanagi stated, giving a small bow to all the attendants of the Velvet Room.

" **Both Marie and Hope are amnesiacs. They can't remember anything about their past, only their names."** Margaret interrupted, grabbing Yu's attention. " **I was hoping that you would be able to try and spend some time with them, maybe be able to get their memories back to them?"** The Otherwordly Being worded it like a question, but make it sound like a demand.

"That's fine. But first I was hoping that you could answer a few questions I may have." Yu sat down in his usual place, noticing that Igor was not their. Margaret seemed to take note of his observation and spoke up.

" **Because of recent events, Igor has been occupied as of late. But you should not worry, he is fine. His power is even greater than mine."**

Reassured, Yu began to ask his questions. Turns out, he didn't exactly go back in time, he went to a different universe, where he was thrown into the other Yu's body. When he asked about what happened to the other 'Yu', Margaret went silent and Hope looked uncomfortable. Surprisingly it was Marie who answered him. Her blank look faded and her eyes looked full of emotions, as if she was experiencing everything at once. "We don't know. He may be dead, he may be shoved into the depths of your soul, he could be in the Sea of the Unconscious." The Fool turned and nodded politely to the new female resident of the Velvet Room, thanking her for her response. Her cheeks flushed for second, before she turned away mumbling something. Yu's other big question about what he saw the night before also brought silence from all three of them. Margaret soon spoke up with an answer.

" **I can't go too much into detail, but that is exactly why my master has been occupied lately."** A small sigh of relief left Yu, as he could at least get some more answers once Igor got back to the Velvet Room. With most of the questions solved he just had one last one before he left to go save Yukiko.

"Well in the previous… life? Universe? Well in the other time, whenever we went into the T.V World, time flowed regularly. However, the past few times we went in, time seemed to stop all together. Is this supposed to happen?"

" **In this Universe, the world itself was created a long time ago, by someone called the Saviour. The Saviour had the ability to slow time, even stop it, if only for a little while. The more energy the Saviour used, the longer the time stopped. So once the Saviour created this World, she also used most of her energy called Eradia to make new Gods and Goddesses. Those First Gods and Goddesses, such as Izanagi and Izanami, are called Fal'cie. The Servants of those Fal'cie, whether they be Gods and Goddesses themselves, or humans like yourself, were called L'cie. These Fal'cie and L'cie have incredible power used to change to world around us. Almost all are in resting now, as their duties are done. In the previous lifetime, the Fal'cie and L'cie were cursed beings, always stuck doing their duty, or being slain brutally. The Saviour, however, changed that this time around. The powers that the Fal'cie and L'cie used are now powered by their pure intent on the Human Race. We believe that in this case, the T.V. World that you experienced would have to be powered by one of the Fal'cie or L'cie that would have been able to halt the passage of time."** Yu nodded in understanding.

"Is there a way that I can find out more about this Saviour? This is the second or third time that I've heard of them." Margaret gave a playful smirk.

" **This will have to fall to you. What's the fun if all the answers are given to you? I'll give you a hint though. There is someone one that you have recently met that knows more than even myself, than even Igor would know about the Saviour. Now go, dear Fool. You have a Priestess to rescue."** Yu nodded, and gave a small wave to Hope and Marie.

"I'll be back soon Margaret, Marie, and Hope!" And with that his vision faded and he was standing in front of the Velvet Room next to Diadara's. The Fool took off towards Junes, and he began to talk to Izanagi.

_You wouldn't happen to know anything about the Saviour would you?_

Unfortunately not. While I indeed take after Izanagi himself, I am just a Facet of your True Self.

_Would a Persona like yourself be a L'cie like Margaret Mentioned?_  Yu questioned, as he ran through the Samegawa with Izanagi floating above him.

I would not know about that either. Just because I am a Persona, does not mean I know the entire history of them. Would you be able to tell me if I asked you questions about Humans, back in the past? Yu nodded.

_I see your point. All right we're almost there. Do you have my back?_

I am you just as you are me.

_Let's go then me. We got a Priestess to save!_

Yu eventually met both Chie and Yosuke at the Food Court area, with both of their weapons hidden in a duffle bag. "Yosuke, Satonaka, Let's go!"

And with that they made their way to the Shadow World.


	7. Shadow Chariot and Maxed Priestess

Yu rolled into the fall from the Real World to the Shadow World, already beginning to move towards the direction to Yukiko's Castle when he heard yelling and grunts of pain. Alarmed he turned around and drew his new Gunblade, aiming towards the sound of the noise, only instead of danger, he saw Yosuke and Chie clumped together on the floor.  _Oh yeah… they don't have the experience yet. These aren't my friends I've known for a year. These are my acquaintances that I've known for what, a week now? I shouldn't expect things to go the way they would if they were here. I have to go slower, and pace myself._

"You guys okay? Nothing broken?" He asked, concern filling him. Yosuke he wasn't to worried about, as he had Jiraya now and his Persona should have increased his strength in here, but Chie didn't have that advantage. His concern finally faded when Chie stood up and gave him a thumbs up.

"I'm alright, our things okay?" She gestured to the dufflebag full of medicine, Beads, and Yosuke and Chie's armor and weapons. Yu nodded and set down the bag he was carrying next to the T.V's that they exit through. Yosuke caught his wrenches and spun them around experimentally, trying to get the hang of using them. Chie put on her grieves, and started to walk ahead.

"Satonaka!" Yu called before she could go too far. He gestured to the right, with a "That way." She nodded and started to go that way. Before Yosuke could follow, Yu walked next to him and handed him a few bottles of medicine and a bead. "Hopefully you won't have to use that."

"Hey Yu?" Yosuke asked, his tone slightly concerned. "Where's Teddie?" Yu's eyes widened and he looked around.  _He's usually here every time we come in. Maybe he's at the Castle?_

"Let's worry about him later. As much as I hate to say it, Teddie seems perfectly fine here. Yukiko however, would have to face her Shadow as well. Just like Saki-senpai and Yamano-san. She's more in danger here. Not to mention that Chie doesn't have a Persona either so she's also in dang… DAMN IT, SHE DIDN'T WAIT FOR US!" Yu suddenly noticed that she wasn't in the vicinity anymore. He started to run, slipping on the glasses that Teddie gave him last time. Yosuke was suddenly beside him, glasses also on, determination on his face. With what felt like five minutes of running, the Castle was finally in view with Teddie standing there facing the entrance. "Teddie! Did Chie run past here?" At Teddie's confused stare, Yu elaborated. "The girl we came here with the first time? Brown hair, bowl cut, Green Jacket, Grieves on her legs?" Teddie seemed to remember and nodded.

"Yeah, she ran right by me. She ignored what I was saying about it being dangerous and just went inside!" He seemed very worried, but remembering that this Teddie can't do anything yet, he gently patted him on the head.

"It'll be okay Teddie. Come on, we got some people to save." And the three of them went into the Castle. The whole atmosphere around them seemed to change. Yu unsheathed his Blazefire Saber and took point as they went down the hall. A giant black blob was in the middle of the hallway, blocking their progression. "Yosuke, make sure to not let that touch you. It's a shadow." Yosuke nodded as Yu kneeled and aimed down his gun. He fired one shot, making the blob exploded into a giant Slipping Hablerie. The Fool stood up and began to make his way to the Shadow, but stumbled slightly and fell down.  _Diadara wasn't kidding. The Ammo of this gun truly is my energy. Guess I'll do this the Old fashion way._ "Yosuke, charge at it! Give me a second."

"You got it Partner!" With that Yosuke ran at the Shadow, and slammed one of his wrenches into it's body, and his other one against it's tongue. Before Yu could even summon Izanagi, the Shadow faded from existence. "Whoa! Dude it left money!"

Yu walked over to where the Shadow perished, to find out he was right. Usually, there were little cards going through his mind, but it seems as though that wasn't happening anymore. "I guess that my gun did more damage than I thought… Alright Yosuke, since this gun seems to use my energy, I'll let you take on the next one by yourself. Try to summon your Persona for it. Teddie? Think you can hold onto this for us?" Yosuke nodded and Teddie walked to the Yen.

"Sure thing Sensei!" Once they began to move, another Shadow approached them from behind. It completely avoided Teddie and Yu just managed to dodge it as it sped past.

"Yosuke! Dodge down and to the left!" Surprised by the sudden command, he did as instructed, the only damage happening to his School Jacket. A fire burned in his eyes, and Yosuke whirled around and smacked his Tarot Card that appeared in front of him.

"JIRAIYA!" Jiraiya appeared behind him, arms crossed. " **GARU**!" And Yosuke's call to his Persona sprung it into action, uncrossing it's arms and forming a sphere of wind in it's hands. JiraIya then threw the ball of wind at the shadow, causing it to explode into another Hablerie. Just as it turned to face Yosuke, the Magician gave another command. "BASH!" JiraIya raised it's hands up high before slamming into the Shadow, causing it to disappear.

Yu smiled. "Nice going, Yosuke!" The Junes Heir threw a thumbs up towards him. They both moved onwards until they reached the stairs leading up towards the next floor of the Castle. In front of them was a large door, with yelling coming from the opposite side.

"YOU'RE NOT ME!" came Chie's voice, followed by laughter.  _Damn, how did that happen so fast!?_

"Let's go!" Yosuke cried as Yu kicked open the door. Chie was unconcious in the middle of the floor, and her Shadow, which still seemed like a weird Dominatrix, was getting ever closer to the downed girl. Yu quickly pulled out his Blazefire Saber and shot a few times at the Shadow.

" _ **YOU! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME? HOW DARE YOU SIDE WITH THE OTHER, LESSER ME!?"**_ In a rage, she ignored her other self and charged at the Fool and Magician.

"Yosuke, behind me!" Yu raised Goddess's grace and braced himself for the impact as Yosuke slid behind him. Teddie was standing away from the battle trying to stealthily get closer to Chie, and just as he started to pull her away, the Shadow turned and roared at the bear.

" _ **YOU'LL BE NEXT BEAR!"**_ Teddie, the brave fool, kept tugging at Chie to try and get her to move, completely ignoring the Shadow starting to charge towards him. Yu however, wasn't going to let Teddie be hurt again.

"IZANAGI! **ZIO**!" With a mighty cry, Yu reached out and crushed his Tarot Card, summoning the Father of Japan to strike the Shadow with lightning. Yosuke swiped his own Tarot Card calling forth his own Persona, sending a wind blast at the Shadow, knocking it over. Something clicked in Yu's mind, and he pulled Yosuke over. "On the count of three, send out your strongest **Garu** okay?"

"You got it Partner!" Was his answer. Chie's Shadow charged them once again, long hair following its body.

"One…." Yosuke summoned Jiraiya, and Yu summoned Izanagi. "Two…" In Izanagi's off hand, a ball of lightning formed in his hand. Jiraiya had a ball of wind in each hand, charging up. The Shadow was now a meter away from them. "THREE!" Izanagi and Jiraiya both threw their orbs of power, the Wind cutting through a large portion of the Shadow's hair, and slamming into its stomach, while the lightning went through the chest of the Shadow. With a loud cry, the Shadow dissolved around them, leaving a Chie look-alike next to them, with the Aura around it a deep blue and it's eyes a burning yellow.

The actual Chie began to stir in Teddie's Arms, and eventually opened her eyes. She got up and looked surprised to see both Yu and Yosuke there. Her eyes eventually zeroed in on her Shadow and was about to say something before Yu spoke up. "Chie-san." Her eyes widened, and stared at Yu, blushing slightly. Once again, before any words could be said, Yu spoke up. "No matter what Chie, we won't think any less of you. It doesn't matter what your Shadow said. She could've said that you were deeply in love with Yukiko for all I care. She's still apart of you. She is you just as much as you are her. She may have overstated somethings, but whatever she said held some truth to it. You have to accept her Chie, or you won't be able to live with yourself… or in general. Saki-senpai and Yamano-san, they both denied their Shadows and died. You have to actually accept your Shadow, Chie, or they'll go berserk again. I won't judge you for it." Surprisingly, Yosuke also spoke up.

"No matter what Chie-san, we will both support you. Should you ever need us to help you out, you can count on us okay?" Chie began to tear up and took a few steps towards her Shadow.

"You know maybe you are right. Maybe I am pathetic. Maybe I do fail as a girl, as a person. Maybe I do rely on Yukiko to feel a bit better about myself. And you know what? Even though I'm jealous of her, I'll still give it my all to protect her. You are right about all of that. Because… You're me and I'm you."

" _ **Thank you…"**_  was all the Shadow was able to say before it hugged it's human counterpart and faded into her Persona, Tomoe. Chie staggered slightly and began to fall before Teddie caught her.

"Thanks you guys. If you didn't show up, who knows what would've happened." Chie said, trying to lighten the mood. A flash of a dead, legless Chie covered in blood flashed in front Yu's mind. He did his best to hide his grimace and tried to change the subject.

"My apologies for my Rudeness earlier. I felt as it would have been the best way to help you, Satonaka-san. Please forgive me." With that said, he bowed. Chie just giggled.

"Well you did kinda save my life. Both you and Yosuke. So I think it's fine if the two of you call me Chie without any of the honorifics. My head's killing me… are you two wearing glasses?" Yosuke answered her.

"Yeah, Teddie made them. You probably need some in order to see in here anyways. Here, take mine. I'll just stick with Teddie, and that way we can try and get you to safety." In his hand was his set of glasses, and he carefully set them upon her face, allowing her to be able to see around them. Chie nodded but then spoke up about something that was bothering her.

"What about Yukiko?" That was the main question that needed to be answered. With the events taking place sooner than expected, who is to say that the fog couldn't come tomorrow? Then Yukiko would be… Yu cleared his head of his thoughts again.

"You two, go back the the entrance of the T.V. world. I'll go on ahead and get Amagi-san. Should you both feel up to it, come on back here and meet me near the top. I'll most likely be dealing with her Shadow, so if you can't make it all the way up to the top, try and clear out the first few floors. That'll make it easier for us to escape with Yukiko. Who knows how long she's been here anyway, as time does not seem to go while we are in here. Partner, I'm counting on you to keep her safe until she can actually move around and use her Persona." With a nod and what seemed to be a burst in confidence, Yosuke lead the three of them back to the entrance. With a smile, Yu went through the room and open up the next door to see a sight he was not expecting. It was Shadow Yukiko and…

"Yukiko?" It wasn't the missing Inn Manager in training, it was the Yukiko of the last year, his Priestess. She wasn't moving, just laying there on the ground with Shadow Yukiko looking at her in sadness.

" _ **She's not going to wake up, dear Fool."**_ The Shadow explained as Yu ran to her side. Yu looked up at her questioningly, trying to understand what was going on with the Shadow. " _ **We both know what must happen. You will eventually fight me as the other me will deny my existence. I've seen what happens to us, from her eyes."**_ Here the Shadow knelt next to the fallen Priestess. " _ **I did everything I could to protect us that day. But then Chie-san died, and the other me felt rage, hatred and pain. And I morphed into… that monstrosity. Can you protect us this time around? Will you be able to save all of our lives this time?"**_  It seems as though Yukiko's old Persona merged with her shadow.

"I can't guarantee that Konohana-san. I'll do everything I can to protect them from dying. Even if it means my life. I promise I'll do everything I can to stop the fog so that no-one will die this time!" Yu's voice rose from a whisper to a shout. He wasn't really shouting at her though, and she seemed to understand.  _I can't let them die again. I WON'T LET THEM DIE._  Yu was surprised though, when he felt arms wrap around him. It was his Yukiko, sitting up and holding him.

" _I believe you. I… will never leave you… Yu-san."_ And with that she began to glow a faint blue light, and was absorbed into him. In her place, was a Tarot Card, of the Priestess Arcana. It was a Persona, Sumeo-Okami. Time seemed to stop and a loud echoing voice sounded around him.

 _ **"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a genuine bond... The innermost power of the Priestess Arcana has been set free. We bestow upon thee Sumeo-Okami, the ultimate form of the Priestess Arcana. Know that even in Death, your bond shall always give you strength."**_  When time resumed, Shadow Yukiko was gone, presumably going back to her other self. Yu stood and moved to the exit of the floor to proceed upward. As he reached the next floor, he was surrounded by multiple shadows of varying types, from Basalts and Hands, to Halberies and Cupids. The Fool crushed his new Tarot Card, and with a mighty cry summoned the Persona that represented his bond and time with Yukiko.

"SUMEO-OKAMI! **MARAGIDYNE!** "

The magical fire consumed all of the Shadows around them, and Yu collapsed in exhaustion. He noticed a small card with a cup on it and dragged himself over to it. Once it was in his hand, it faded in a faint blue light, and his energy was restored. Yu slowly staggered to his feet and began making his way back up the castle. He owed it to Konohana and Yukiko to save this Yukiko. He wasn't going to let them perish here.

Can you still move on? Should you not rest? Came Izanagi's voice through his head.

 _It's not a question of can or can't me_ _._  He thought to himself.  _Somethings in life you just do._


	8. Shadow Priestess Renewed

Once they reached the base of the castle, Yosuke, Chie and Teddie all stopped and rested for a moment.

"Yo Ted, you think you can make any more of those glasses? It's getting pretty hard to see out here. My head's been killing me since I took them off." Came the Junes Heir's voice. Soon afterwards, Chie responded.

"I'm feeling pretty good now that I have these glasses on, now that I think about it. Maybe the Fog could be poisonous?"

"That would be BEAR-y bad!" Chimed in Teddie. Yosuke face palmed at the pun and Chie giggled lightly. "Here Yosuke, I made you another pair. I should probably start making one for the girl we were trying to rescue huh?" Without waiting for an answer, Teddie walked to the other wall and started trying to make another pair of glasses.

"Hey Yosuke…" Chie whispered once the Bear Mascot walked far enough away and Yosuke put on his glasses. "Have you noticed that Yu is acting a bit… differently?"

The Magician looked over at her. "Now that you mention it… yeah. Whenever we encounter one of those Shadows, he either freezes for a second before he fights them, or he just out right demolishes them without even looking at them. You don't think… that maybe he's fought them before? And that something happened to him? Could that be why he acts differently in here?"

Chie pondered for a moment. "What if that's actually the reason why he moved here? What if he had friends, just like us, but they all… died from the Shadows? Oh Jeez… That would be horrible!"

Teddie called over to them both. "That would explain why Sensei was particularly ruthless when he fought both Yosuke's and your own Shadow. He didn't seem like he was just fighting them off so we could get you to safety. He looked like he was trying to make sure that it wouldn't get near you Chie-chan."

Both Yosuke and Chie exchanged looks and they got up from where they were sitting on the bridge. "C'mon Teddie, we got a person to save. We can't just let him go it alone."

* * *

The massive doors for the top floor of the castle burst open. Yukiko, the Human one, was on the floor at the base of the steps leading to the throne, and her Shadow was in front of the throne talking down to her.  _ **"Historic inn? Manager training!? I'm sick of all these things chaining me down! I never asked to be born here! Everything's decided for me! From how I live, to where I die! I'm so sick of it! To hell with it all!"**_

"Y-you're not me!" And in a fit of rage, the Shadow exploded into it's bird form. Yukiko was trapped in a cage now, hanging off to the side of the room, now unconscious.

"I don't want to fight you Konohana-san! Don't make me do this!" Yu called, rushing into the room shield in front of him, hand gripping his Tarot Card just in case of a sudden attack.

" _ **WHY DID YOU LET US DIE YU-SAN!? WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT US!? YOU JUST STOOD THERE AND WATCHED AS CHIE BLED OUT, AND AS I WAS TURNED INTO AN ICE CUBE! WERE WE NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU!? WHY COULDN'T YOU LOVE ME LIKE YOU DID RISE AND NAOTO AND CHIE!? WHY NARUKAMI, WHY!?"**_

Yu slid to a stop.  _Fuck… I guess these were Yukiko's thoughts before…_ He shook his head. "I didn't love them Yukiko-san! I wasn't prepared for the attack that day, I didn't know what was happening until it was too late!"

" _ **NICE EXCUSE YOU LYING INSUFFERABLE PRICK! I WON'T LET HER GO THROUGH THAT PAIN AGAIN!"**_

"Neither will I!" And with that Izanagi was summoned and the fight began. The Berserk Shadow fired an **Agilao** directly towards the Fool, who blocked it with Goddess's Grace. "Izanagi! **Zio** then **Cleave**!" Called Yu. Once the magical fire began to fade, Yu dodge around and pulled out the Blazefire Saber crushing his card again. " **Raikouzan!** " and fired shot after shot into the Shadow's face, wounding it severely. As Izanagi flew towards the Shadow, it flung a ball of lightning magic into its beak before slicing it directly at it's eyes. Yu began to sway and switched his Saber into it's blade form and charged at it, commanding Izanagi to attack at the same time. While Izanagi's Naginata did manage to damage the Shadow, Yu never made it to the Shadow, getting flung back by it flapping it's wings and sending a large burst of wind towards Yu. However, instead of getting flung into the wall behind him, the impact was a lot softer than expected, and a lot noisier. A blurry face appeared in front of him.

"Par… Partner! Yo, Yu! You alive buddy?" came Yosuke's voice, as the blurry face was replaced by a blob. By reaching up to the blob, Yu found out it was a hand.  _All of my energy is… gone…_

"Yosu… ke… Chi…. Ice… Weak…" mumbled Yu, vision fading rapidly. With his last ounce of strength, Yu crushed a card that appeared in his hand. "Per… So… Na." and with that, his vision faded with a deep blue and gold surrounding his vision.

***LINE BREAK***

Yu opened his eyes to see both Chie and Yosuke staring at him in concern. It took him a few seconds, but he eventually spoke up. "Yukiko… safe?"  _Man it hurts to talk. I need some water or something._ A sickly voice came from behind the two people.

"Yes. Thank you Narukami-san. I would probably be hurt or worse if not for you."  _Oh thank Izanagi… Wait…._ Shortly after she finished speaking, she coughed.

"In… T.V.?" Yu barely asked. Teddie's voice answered him before his words fully made it to his brain.

"Yes Sensei, we just got to the area where you three came in. You really weigh a lot though Sensei!"  _That explains the soft landing at least._

"Yukiko needs to… get out of the T.V…. Quickly." Chie nodded, obeying Yu's command. Leaving only Yu, Yosuke and Teddie behind.

"Yo Teddie, you think you can give me and Yu some time alone? I need to talk with him about something private okay?" In the old timeline, Teddie probably would have stayed anyways or at least asked Yu for his opinion, but in this time, without a word, Teddie just left the two of them be.

"Yosuke? Everything okay?"  _It's getting easier to talk. I guess I should really slow down on using the Gun Form of the Blazefire Saber._

"That depends. Are  _you_  okay? Whenever we fight Shadows, especially the bigger ones like Chie's or Yukiko's Shadows, you always try to end the fight as quickly as possible. And you hardly ever look at them without freezing up. What's the problem? Did something happen?" Yu looked down.  _I can't lie. The whole year, we spent searching for the truth, and we will this time around too. But how should I say it? "You died Yosuke, you and Chie, Yukiko, and a few others you haven't met yet. All of you died and I did nothing to help." That would go over_ _great_. he thought.  _I should tell him something though… not necessarily a lie, but not the full truth either._

"It's… hard to explain. I should tell you, and the others the truth about what happened, why I keep freezing. But I can't tell you everything. Not yet. By the end of this year, you'll know the full truth. As of right now, I can say I was with others once. Counting me there were eight of us. 'Were' being the key word here. As of today? Only a single person of the team are currently alive." Here, he ceased talking.  _Man it's harder to say out loud._ His eyes began to get teary, so Yu closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.  _Have to stay calm, have to be the leader, they can't see weakness, they need to rely on me. Take a deep breath, let it out._ Soon enough his mask was back on, and he was able to look back up as Yosuke.

Silver met Brown and it to everything Yu had not to let his mask fall. "Yu… Partner, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked, it was just Chie and I being nosy and worried, cause I mean, you're our leader and we want you to be able to rely on us you know, not just the other way around an-"

"You're rambling, Partner." Yosuke stopped talking and before he could say anything else, Yu continued. "Thanks though. I appreciate it. You know what, I'll make you and Chie lunch for caring about me." Yu stuck out his hand, clenched in a fist and Yosuke responded by tapping his own fist with his Partners.

There was a loud crash in Yu's ears, and before he flinched time stopped around him. " _ **Rank up! Your bond has grown in a show of trust. The Renewed Magician has remembered some experiences from the past"**_  A loud indistinguishable voice called out. Once time resumed, Yosuke grabbed his head in pain.

"Yosuke! You alright?" Yosuke shook his head.

"I'll be fine. Must've been from being inside the fog for too long without my glasses. I'm gonna head home Yu. Hopefully these attacks will stop sooner rather than later." With that, they both exited the T.V. World. Chie and Yukiko wasn't in sight anywhere. "They must have started to walk her back to the Inn. Hopefully this will calm everyone down." The Fool agreed with the Magician.

"The less people gossip about the Midnight Channel, the less likely the Killer will go into hiding. As much as I hate to say it, but in order for us to try and find out who's behind these murders and kidnappings, they need to continue to happen. The best we can do is to find who the next victim is and do everything we can to protect them."

A solemn nod between the two was exchanged before they went their separate ways.

Perhaps tomorrow you should go see the Velvet Attendants. They may be able to explain a bit more about what has happened. You may also want to talk to someone, so you do not break under pressure. I don't think the Room would be able to assist in that way. You should speak to someone about the problems that you have besides the Investigation.

_Thanks Izanagi, I'll make sure to do that._ With a sigh, Yu changed his mind to different topics than his mental health.  _That was a pretty sweet attack that Me and Yosuke used earlier. Should we name it? I mean, all the other attacks already had names, like Zio and Garu and stuff whenever we learned them. But this ability isn't there._

Could I recommend 'Arashi'? It would make sense as it does indeed make a storm.

_Good idea then Izanagi. **Arashi** it is. We can probably make it flashier in the future._

The rest of the walk home was filled with small talk between Wild Card and Persona.


	9. Fool Renewed and Universe

***April 17th, Sunday, After School***

Do it. Yu looked unsure.

 _I dunno. I mean, what if-_ The Fool was got off by his Persona.

You'll be fine. Just do it. You need this.

_You're right. I need this. But what about them? Do they need this? Aren't they trying to find someone?_ If Izanagi was annoyed at his Wild Card, he didn't show it.

You're part of the Investigation Team, are you not?

_Yeah, but I'm not a detective._

But you know someone who is. Yu's eyes widened slightly.

 _But not yet. She did teach me some tricks though. I'll do it._ Yu pressed a button.

" _Hello?_ "

"Hello. I'm sorry to bother you, are you busy Farron-san?"

" _I got some free time. What's up, kid?"_

"I need some... advice."

 _"About what?"_  Claire asked calmly.

"Well I guess it's not really advice… More like I need help. But since you don't really know me, I'm also gonna offer to help you. To find your Sister, Serah you said it was?" Yu offered in exchange to listening to him for a bit.

 _"You didn't need to offer to help but I appreciate it all the same. Let's start with you first. What do you need help with?"_  The Fool gulped.

"I don't really have anyone to talk to this about, so once again, I'm sorry to bother you. You seem to know how to be an adult. What exactly is it like?"

There was silence for a bit, and before Yu could apologize again, Claire spoke up.

 _"I'm not too good at this. Uh... Let me tell you a Story. It's about… a friend of mine. When she was around your age, maybe a bit younger, her parents died. So once she graduated High School, she joined the Military to make sure her little sister would be able to live comfortably. So after a few years everything was fine. But the friend, she had to grow up quickly for her sister. She couldn't do anything for her anymore, just for her sister. On the outside she was fine. but on the inside she was just a child, wanting nothing but someone to help her. I guess the moral is, not matter what you do in life, things aren't always going to go your way. Maybe your parents will one day cease to exist, maybe they just stop paying attention to you. Either way, you're going to have to stand on your own two feet. You can get help from friends, and other assistance, but coming down to it, your success is all on you. But you have to keep moving forward. As long as you have a goal, you can keep moving. It's alright to have memories to look back on but you have to keep your eyes front. The second they look back, you stop moving, and get crushed by all the negative instead of all the good things that happened in the past."_ Claire paused for a minute, before she sounded a little concerned.  _"... Did that make sense?"_

"Yeah, I think it made perfect sense. In fact I think it was exactly what I needed. Thanks Farron-san. Alright so now, I'll try and help you out as promised. Should we meet up by the River so we can go over the case?"

 _"You weren't listening earlier were you? You don't need to help me out."_ Yu sighed.

"I'll be by the Samegawa for the rest of the day. I hope to see you there." Before Claire could say anything else Yu hung up and started making his way to the Riverbed. It was a nice and peaceful walk, with the trees gently rustling as the wind went through them, and the occasional bird chirping. With the recent talk with Claire, and the feeling of peace that radiated through him, The Fool felt more in unison with the Universe. Suddenly time ceased to flow.

 _ **"Thou art I... And**_   _ **I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thy bond will keep the Universe balanced and Truth ever easier to grasp… Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Universe Arcana."**_

And time resumed and Yu was surprised. Usually these bonds happen around other people and revolve around them. But this one, Yu was alone and the only one around him was… nothing. Just nature and quiet.  _Maybe as my understanding of life grows, so will the Social Link. Huh. That's interesting._

Yu sat on the pavilion next to the Riverbed and just sat there for a while, enjoying the breeze. He leaned his head back and drooped his eyes shut. "It's a nice day today, considering that it was pouring yesterday. Feels great out here."

"I agree with you." came a voice behind him. His eyes shot open and looked for the voice. With a turn, he saw Claire, sitting on the bench near him, a small polite smile on her face. "I decided to take you up on your offer. What can you do to help, detective?"

"I'm no detective. I know a few things, but not a whole lot. In fact it may be better in the long run to get a detective. But first things first, I'll need information about her. Go ahead and talk about her."

"I see. Well her name is Serah. She maybe either as old as you are a bit younger. She's mature, wise for her age, deeply caring. Serah is always positive too, realistic but positive. She's also determined like you wouldn't believe. We used to live near a beach, but she's as pale as I am. We look the same, except for her hair style and height. Serah always wanted to be a teacher too, even talked about going to university. Her favorite subject was History too. She…" Her expression changed to one mixed of amusement and annoyance. "She has a fiance too. His name was Snow. He's easy-going, passionate, and only slightly unreliable. Hotheaded, fearless, almost as optimistic as Serah. I was trying to find him too, but couldn't seem to find him either."

Yu thought for a moment. "Well, if we find one of them we will find the other. Eventually. So with that information, it's most likely that Serah is either attending school here, or could potentially be somewhere with online studies. We also can't rule out that she's with Snow either."

"That's also true. Maybe… no, nevermind, I shouldn't bother him about it." Claire began then almost immediately discarded her idea. Yu was going to ask but just pushed it a side.

"So I heard that there's supposed to be this up and coming detective, and they could definitely help you out. At least I think. Have you heard of Naoto Shirogane?"

"The Detective Prince? You think he could help out?" A nod from the Fool let her consider the thought.

"In the meantime, we will look for them on our own. Once we get Shirogane-san to help, we should be able to find out where they could have gone."

Soon enough, the two went their separate ways, both determined to find out where Claire's Sister and her Fiance could be. Before Yu went back home however, he had a stop to make in the Shopping District.

After a few minutes, The Fool was inside the Velvet Room, with three of the residents there.

"Hello again, Margaret, Hope, Marie. It's nice to see you again."

Margaret gave him a smile and nodded, Marie looked up from a sheet of paper to acknowledge him, and Hope gave him a wave.

_**"Hello! I was wondering Yu, would it be okay if we talked for a bit? About uh… certain things?"** _

"Guy talk?" He got a nod from Hope. "Margaret? Is he okay to leave the Velvet Room?"

" **Both Hope and Marie are able to leave the Velvet Room, but only if you escort them. Marie however, can not be outside the Room on Rainy Days. That restriction is for everyone's safety."**

"I'll go ahead and pass on this trip outside. I gotta finish some stuff. You both go have your Guy talk or whatever." Maire said after a look in her direction by Yu. With a shrug, Yu left the Room with Hope in Tow.

"So… What's up?"

_**"I remembered something… about my past."**  That's why Hope seemed to want to get away from Marie and Margaret. Maybe whatever it is about the past is pretty private._

"I won't judge you for it. What did you remember?"

" _ **I used to have someone close to me. I think it was a Woman. And only two other words I can remember having some kind of significance. 'Light' and 'Saviour'. I keep getting these flashes of her and some of them aren't exactly… good for other people to see? Catch my drift? And I don't exactly have a whole lot of privacy in the Room. I'd like to try to be strong, as much as I can for the other three, especially Igor as he took me in you know? So I needed someone to vent too. It's not exactly easy seeing absolute darkness and despair as well as only hearing a woman calling out your name in agony."**_  Yu seemed taken aback. He assumed that by the way the conversation was going was that he needed some 'alone time' away from the beautiful women in the Velvet Room.  _But this? He just needed to be able to mourn without having the others think lesser of him. Shit…_

"Hope… From what I know of loss, it's going to be hard to be able to get over it. You'll need a way to work through your grief. The main problem seems to be, you don't know enough about this 'Light' or 'Saviour' to properly mourn. So I'll tell you what, I'll do everything I can to stop by everyday and we can try to lesser this burden you're feeling. I might not be the best for this situation, as I haven't been able to properly grieve over my own loss of all of my old friends, but I'll have to do, as Marie is in a similar boat as you and… Margaret is still an enigma. Same with Igor too." Yu ran his hand through his own silver hair. "So Hope, whenever you need me, let me know okay? I'm here for you just like you're here for me." Yu put out his hand and was surprised once more where instead of a handshake, he was hugged by the now sobbing boy. The Fool enveloped the Amnesiac in an embrace.

Time seemed to stop around the two boys. Hope suppressed a sob, and looked around at the darkened area, and Yu tensed for a second. " _ **W-what's happening Yu? Why'd it get dark? What is that noise?"**_  It took a Yu a moment but he found the noise Hope was talking about. The sound was a drum beat, and it was surrounding the two. A drum beat he's heard a few times before.

"Uh-oh…" And before anything else could be said, there was a loud shattering sound, followed by a loud cannon blast.  _That… is new._

 _**"Thou art I…"** _ _Shit._

" _ **And**_   _ **I am thou…"**_ _How am I supposed to explain this to Margaret?_

" _ **Thou hast established a new bond…"**_ _Another new bond? I've seen all of them before, the only one that was new this time was the Universe._

" _ **Thy bond will keep the Universe balanced and the Truth ever easier to grasp, and Humanities' Hope growing strong… Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana."**_ _...What?_

Hope's eyes widened, then his hands shot up into his hair, mouth wide as if he was screaming but no sound came out. Yu gently picked up the Amnesiac and pulled him into the Velvet Room. Once the door was shut, it seemed as though Hope finally found his voice, barely able keep in his screaming. Margaret quickly went into action, moving over to the Amnesiac, gently pushing Yu away from Hope and casting several healing spells and status ailment healers. All of them seemed to not do anything and this was the first time Yu could ever see Margaret looked frazzled. " **Dormina!"**  and the sleep spell seemed to work, as almost immediately after the spell was cast, Hope fell over asleep. In a few moments, Hope was lying asleep where he always sat, Margaret was back at her spot on the side of the limo, and Marie looked just as confused as Yu.

"What just happened?" Marie asked, confused as to why her fellow Amnesiac was now asleep next to her.

" **That's what I would like to know. Yu? What happened before you came in?"**

Yu sat in his usual spot, and started to inform the two of them. "We bonded and made the Fool Social Link. I think… he was remembering. In my Social Link with Yosuke, he gained some memories, but I think it was just a few experiences using his Persona. He could write it off as a daydream, but other than that Social Link, nothing else could give me any information as to what could be happening to Hope."

"We won't know until he wakes up on his own."

"So you can make people remember things? Work your magic on me would you?" Marie tried to joke to lighten the mood.

"I don't think I can just snap my fingers and it happen. But I'll try my best to help you out. Did you want to try today?" He was surprised by her head shake.

"I'll pass, gonna try and keep an eye out for Hope. We'll let you know when he's conscious."

They said their good-byes, and almost as soon as Yu walked out of the Velvet Room, his phone vibrated. It was an email from Chie.

"Yukiko's okay, wnts to tlk about case. Jns"

 _Today just seems to be full of surprises. First, I get a new Social Link. Then, I get a Different Social Link than last year. Now, Yukiko is fully healed and rested in a day instead of being in bed for a week or so. What's next?_ Yu thought to himself as he made his way to Junes to meet with the others.


	10. Chariot Start Renewed and a new Fool?

After searching for the rest of the team, which took a while to decipher Chie's text, ( _It really should have been easy for him to understand 'Jns' would equal 'Junes')_ The four members of the Investigation Team started to talk over the case, only to find out that they didn't really get anywhere in the Investigation. Yu managed to 'discover' that all the victims appeared on T.V. The four parted separate ways, Yukiko to go back to the Inn, Yosuke to continue working at his job at Junes, leaving Yu and Chie to walk back to their homes together. On the way back, they stopped at the Samegawa as a suggestion from Chie.

"I mean, now's the time to train right? We have to get stronger." Yu nodded at the Chariot.

"Right. Let's go, no holding back." With that, Yu moved into a stance, knees slightly bent, left arm behind him and his right arm in a prepared block. Chie started bouncing back and forth on her feet, a grin on her face.

"I won't lose!" And with that Chie charged towards him. With a jump, she flung a kick directly towards the side of Yu's face, in which he responded with blocking with his right arm. In a single fluid motion, Yu spun around and back-kicked the Advancing Kung-fu nut. Chie looked on in surprise.

Yu's stance was changed and mirrored his previous stance, his left side now facing Chie. "Stay determined, Chie!" And with that, and onslaught of kicks, punches, and grapples came from the Chariot, each one being evaded or blocked. Yu ducked another kick and responded with elbowing the girl in the square of her now unprotected back, knocking the air out of her as she fell to the ground, breathing deeply. "You have to keep moving! If this was in the Shadow World, this would be a bad spot for you to get winded! You won't be able to protect  _anyone_ like this!" Like a fire was ignited in her soul, she sprung up from the ground and began her relentless assault once again, attacking again and again, pushing Yu back to the edge of the river bed. All she needed was another push, and she would be able to push him into the water. Chie charged a galactic punt towards the Fool, only for Yu to fall to lie down on the ground. A loud splash reached his ears.

Yu gave her a smile as she sprung up from the cool water. He reached a hand out to the now wet teen to pull her out of the river, but Chie had second thoughts. With a tug, Yu was pulled into the water. Once Yu breached the water, he was greeted by Chie's satisfied face. "That's what I call training! I couldn't do anything the whole time! You just kept dodging and blocking and it was so cool! We need to train more often!"

"Looks like you're steadily gaining the power to protect others." Yu commented. "I'll be counting on more of these training sessions Chie." She blushed at the praise, and nodded happily.

"I hope you'll teach me some more, Yu!" With that, she raised her hand for a high five which he gladly returned. The second their hands touched, time stopped around them and the world grew dark.

 ** _"Rank Up! Thy bond is strengthened by the hopes you both hold for the future. The Chariot has learned some knowledge of a previous life-time."_** Time resumed once again, and Chie grabbed her head. "Jeez, I guess all this new exercise is taking it's toll on me."

"It also doesn't help that you're soaking wet, Chie. Go home and dry up. I'll see you tomorrow at School, okay?" With a nod, they both left their separate ways.

* * *

Yu was welcomed home by a confused Nanako. "Why are you all wet?"

 _Crap crap crap crap crap, what should I say?_ "I fell in some water. These people were bullying this girl, and I stood up to them for her. I thought her how to defend herself just in case anyone else tried to bully her or try and hurt her. So while I was teaching her, She pushed me into the water in the nearby river." A look of understanding crossed her innocent face.

"Oh! I see. Do you think Dad might teach me some stuff if I ask?" Yu nodded immediately.

"He really should. I'll tell you what, if he says no, I'll teach you myself okay? I'm not gonna let you go around defenseless." Nanako put on a face that looked a mixture between determined and cute. Yu almost wanted laugh.

"I'm gonna go dry off. What do you want me to make for dinner?" Yu asked as he started to climb upstairs.

"Dad said he got off early! He's gonna bring food from Junes~!" Called Nanako's happy voice. Yu just laughed as he entered the bathroom.

Once he got out of the bath and changed, he noticed that his uncle had returned home with food and with a very unwelcome guest.

Yu's expression remained neutral throughout the entire encounter, but it still took every fiber of his being to not to grab the Blazefire Sabre and to shoot the Bastard to death. Once the night finally ended, the Fool went to his room and laid on his futon.  _Damn it Izanagi, this isn't easy, pretending to be nice and chummy with that Igor damned Bastard. But, we just have to keep moving right? Only for eight more months._

'What did you say to the Chariot earlier? Stay Determined. That will be the only way you can get through this. No matter how bad it is, we have to keep moving forward in order to keep our friends alive.'

_Why did you call Chie that? The Chariot?_

'She is the only Chariot that is important to you. The same goes for the Magician. Their must be hundereds of Yosuke's and Chie's out there. But if I call them by their Arcana Name, you will know immediately who I'm talking about.' Yu pondered on that for a bit.

_You have a solid point. Well, hopefully tomorrow will be less hectic._

* * *

***APRIL 18th, Monday, Early Morning***

"Alright everyone, please pay attention. There's someone I'd like to introduce to you. He's recently moved here from Europe to live with his Guardian. Please come introduce yourself."

 _This didn't happen before…_  Yu sat up a little straighter, as the door slid open. His eyes widened as a boy with platinum hair and bright emerald eyes entered the room as Ms. Soufe slid over with a gesture of her Egyptian rod. The boy bowed to the class before smiling at them politely.

" _ **Hello Everyone, my name is Hope Esthiem. Pleased to meet you all. I hope we all get along well!"**_

Hope was greeted by the class, and whispering started up.

"Whoa, two transfer students in almost two weeks?!"

"He looks really cool… He's probably a jerk."

"Are you kidding? He looks really cute! I mean look at his face, it's really soft and slightly effeminate too... "

"He's prettier than some of the other girls here."

_Same old students, gossiping about someone not too far from them. But why are you here, Hope?_

"You can sit in the seat next to Hanamura-san, Estheim-san."

" _ **Yes Ma'am.**_ " Yosuke rose his hand to show Hope where he was supposed to go.

The boy sat next to Yosuke, and thanked him for showing him where he was. Before any other conversations were able to be made, class had begun. Anything Yu had to say, would have to wait.

* * *

***APRIL 18th, Monday, After Class***

The Fool stood up once the bell rang, his stuff already packed into his bag. Various students already began leaving the classroom and others started conversing with each other. Yu turned to the new transfer student. Once again, before he could say anything, Hope spoke up this time.

" _ **Hello Yu-sama! How are you today?"**_ This statement brought Yukiko's, Chie's, and Yosuke's attention to their conversation.

On his guard, Yosuke quickly spoke up. "How do you know his name? He hasn't introduced himself yet…" Yu reached over and put a hand on Yosuke's shoulder to try and calm him.

"It's alright Yosuke, we met the other day." This seemed to put the other's at ease, but they still listened in on their conversation. "I'm fine Hope-san, but what about you? Everything okay?"  _I mean, you did kind of pass out, and scream in pain once we got in the Velvet Room yesterday._

" _ **It could be better. Got a lot of things on my mind. Things that have previously been lost to me. I mean, there's more things lost then found, but at least I found some of them with your help."**_   _Is he talking about his memories!? Fantastic! But why is he at school? Time for a low-key investigation._

You're having fun with this aren't you? Izanagi interjected.

 _Maybe…_  "That's good to hear. Glad I could help. So uh, how'd your guardian take the news?" Hope looked at Yu confusedly, until he seemed to get understand.

" _ **Oh, Margaret was pleased. At least I think she was, it's hard to tell. She hardly smiles you know?"**_

Yu nodded. "I gotcha. Forgive me for asking, but what brings you to Yasogami?" At this question, Hope's face was filled with more emotion than it ever was before the incident. It was…  _Sorrow. Not good…_

" _ **Well… my uh… my parent's died. At the school I went to, I did well enough that I was offered this scholarship by a Mr. Igor? I think his name was? Either way, I no longer have a place back there. Everyone I knew and cared about is… gone for a lack of a better word."**_

Yosuke winced at this, and slung his arm over Hope's shoulders. "That blows. Well, if you ever need anything. Don't be afraid to ask us okay? We will do everything we can to help, well… we we can at least. Both Yukiko and I have jobs, so we aren't always free." A loud ring punctuated his sentence at which The Magician let out a groan. "Speaking of Jobs. Laters!" He answered the call and left at a brisk pace.

"Oh! I forgot I'm on Laundry duty today! I'm terribly sorry, but I have to go now." Yukiko suddenly burst out, and started packing her things in a blur. "It was nice to meet you Estheim-Kun!" And with that she was off, leaving the two Fools and the Chariot alone.

" _ **Hey Yu-sama,"**_  Hope started, " _ **Do you know any clubs that we can join? I'm gonna need some stuff to do, since I don't have many belongings with me."  **_Yu shrugged at the question and turned to Chie.

"Do you know, Chie-san?" She looked a little startled, almost not expecting to be needed.

"I think the Sports Clubs are looking right now, and I think next week Cultural clubs start looking for members. But that's just from what I hear in the Hallway."

" _ **Thanks, Satonaka-san."  **_Hope replied, and gave a warm smile towards her, which she responded with the faintest of blushes.

"Well, I'll join you in looking for a club Hope-san. Figured it might be a good way to build endurance. You wanna come too Chie-san?" She shook her head.

"I already do training to build it. I'm gonna have to push myself to try and keep up with you." He nodded in understanding and they waved goodbye to her as they went to go look up what sports club were. As they left the room, Yu spoke up again.

"So how much of that was a cover story and how much of it was true?"

" _ **As far as I know. Whenever I was unconscious, I saw a lot of memories. And it was all weird, like it showed people, but their faces were blurred. I can remember voices. But that's all that I can get through the flood of memories. Hopefully I can understand some of them more in time. Oh! And I learned something cool as well, watch."**_ He looked around to see if there was anyone looking at them. Once the coast was clear, he moved his hand to his chest and turned his palm towards the ceiling. " _ **Fire."**_  And with the simple word, a small ruby red orb appeared in his hands. " _ **Blizzard."**_  and then the orb turned a pale blue. " _ **Protect."**_ Once again the orb changed colors, to a purple. " _ **Sorry about this."  **_Before Yu could even process what he said, Hope punched him in the arm with his free hand. A throbbing pain rose in Yu's left arm. Hope then pushed the orb into Yu, who watched as the orb disappeared inside of him. The other Fool then punched Yu on his other arm, except this time, he hardly felt this punch. Hope once again created an orb, this time saying, " _ **Cure."**_

The recent pain Yu felt in his arm disappeared as the new orb went inside him. "What? But, you didn't summon a Persona? How'd you do that? That was amazing!" Hope chuckled at Yu's sudden enthusiasm.

" _ **I don't entirely know. I was just talking with Marie, and then all of a sudden there was a ball of fire in my hands. After some experimentation, I found I can do those few spells. Hopefully, once I gain more of my memories back, I can try to see if I can use more spells."  **_Yu nodded in understanding. " _ **The real reason I'm here with you, in this world, is so that I can join you and your allies in your Shadow World. That way, we can be more prepared for later. I don't mean to bring it up, but it happened around December right? Well we only have eight months to grow stronger, so we need all the help we can get. Don't forget to work on your social links either.**_ "

"Well having you on the Team will be a huge asset. Would telling the others sooner or later be better for you?"

" _ **Whenever it's convenient. Now, do you want Basketball? Or Soccer?"**_

"I'd say Soccer, as that way we would be able to get more endurance from running back and forth throughout a dungeon." The Two Fools nodded, and went to join the Soccer Team.

Since they just decided to join the Soccer Team, they could only watch for Today. Yu walked with Hope on the way to the Velvet Room, so he could check up on Marie. The walk through town was peaceful. "See you tomorrow, Hope."

" _ **See you Yu-sama."**_

Yu walked into the Velvet Room, to be greeted by Marie. "My turn to take him outside. I'll be back." The Fool was then immediately taken out of the Velvet Room, almost before he could even see Margaret smirking towards him almost as if amused at the other girl's antics. Once again, Yu's eyes were adjusting to the change as Marie started talking again.. "Alright, work your magic on me."

Once his eyes focused, Yu could see her bright green eyes staring at him. "I'm sorry Marie, but I don't have any magic to work. Hope had regained some on his own, and I helped branch from that. I know next to nothing about you, except for your name." He saw a flash of annoyance go through her eyes.

"I don't know anything else either!" She yelled in anger. Yu nodded in acknowledgement.

"And I understand that. That's what I'm going try and help you. So c'mon, follow me. Let's go for a walk around town and see if anything seems familiar to you." And with that he began walking, not even looking back to see if she was following. After a few steps, he heard her footsteps behind him. He gave a chuckle, and turned around to face her as he kept walking. "Let's go to the Riverbed, and get a good view of the city. That should help us out some, maybe jog your memory some." The two walked in silence, both of them enjoying the atmosphere of the nature around the small rural town.

"This place seems… familiar." Marie stated, taking in the sight of the town from the view at the Riverbed. Yu gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

"Maybe because it's the countryside?" The Fool asked. "You could have seen a scene like this in your past. Is it bringing up anything?"

Marie shook her head sadly. "Nothing…"

Yu gave her a patient smile. "Don't worry too much. I'll help you out okay?"

"Please do." Came the Amnesiac's sincere reply. Yu couldn't help but feel for the girl who lost everything she was, to have her identity stripped away from her.  _It must be hard for her._

The Fool placed a hand on her shoulder, and gazed upwards at the now cloudy sky.

"We should get you back to the Velvet Room. Next time, let's try something else okay?" Marie gave a somber nod, and then time stopped again. Glass broke in the distance.

" _ **Thou art I...**_ _ **And I am thou…Thou hast established a new bond… It brings thee closer to the Truth… Thou shalt be blessed when fusing Personas of the Aeon Arcana."**_  The Voice faded away and time resumed.

"Let's get going then, shall we?" Marie asked rhetorically, as she pulled Yu along towards town, to go back inside the Velvet Room.

* * *

***APRIL 18TH, MONDAY, LATE NIGHT***

_Things are different this time Izanagi. I don't know why we were given a second chance. But with you by my side, nothing can stand in our way. We'll stop Adachi, find out more about this Saviour, and hopefully more about the Midnight Channel._

Are you keeping up with your Social Links?

_Yeah, since last time Margaret helped me out with it, I figured I could lessen her burden._

_I mean, she is the only Social Link I still have maxed out from the previous time._

Well, go ahead and read them off that list you have. Speaking them helps better than just writing them.

"FOOL - Rank 1. Hope Estheim: A boy that has lost his memories, and is trying to get them back. Resides in the Velvet Room."

"MAGICIAN: Renewed - Rank 2. Yosuke Hanamura: I have trusted Yosuke with a bit of my past."

"CHARIOT: Renewed - Rank 2. Chie Satonaka: You brought up Chie's hopes and dreams."

"PRIESTESS - Rank MAX. Yukiko Amagi (Past): The Old Yukiko. I obtained her awakened Persona."

"EMPRESS - Rank MAX. Margaret: Velvet Room Attendant. A single action is worth a thousand words."

"AEON - Rank 1. Marie: Resides in the Velvet Room. A girl who has lost her memories. Seems Anti-Social. Kinda Cute." Was that really necessary to add?

_Ignoring you._

You can't ignore yourself!?

"UNIVERSE - Rank 1. No Person Identified With Rank. Ranks up as understanding of life increases?" Yu crossed out the description before writing a new one. "Unknown. Must Investigate."

It's Midnight you know, and it's not raining. Get some rest, you need it. Yu tried to ignore himself again, but failed as he gave a yawn.

_I still have to… investigate though._

Even your thoughts indicate exhaustion! How can you save anyone when you can't even stand from how tired you are?!

_You have *yawn* a point._ Yu got out of his desk chair, turned to his Futon, and immediately fell upon it. His eyes closed and his breathing came more easy. Izanagi faded into his host's body, and stood watch as his other self rested up.

I gotcha buddy… I gotcha.

Sleep had taken over his body, and Yu fell into the dark abyss of sleep.


	11. Fool-ish Strength and a plan gone Awry

***APRIL 19th, Tuesday, Early Morning***

Yu woke up after a soft knock on his door sounded. "Breakfast is ready!" Came Nanako's voice, slightly muffled by the wood. The Fool rolled off the bed, and slowly got dressed for the day. Once downstairs, his nose was embraced by the smell of 'sunnyside up' eggs and toast.  _She's the best. Oh, I should probably teach her how to make something!_

"Nanako-chan, you said last week that you could make eggs, right? Can you make anything else?" She looked kind of surprised that he was talking to her.

"Oh… um… I can make eggs, toast, and instant ramen!" She proudly declared.  _It's not exactly a big list, but she does seem pretty proud. She's adorable…_

"Well I was thinking - if you're not busy after school today - I could teach you some more things to make. If you'd like, I mean." Nanako's eyes lit up. He hadn't seen Nanako look this excited since he promised to go buy a new Kotatsu for them.

"R-really? Like what?"

"Well I was thinking something like Curry for tonight, so I could teach you that tonight. And tomorrow I could teach you how to make something foreign. I did spend some time in America, and I could teach you a few dishes." Yu offered. She smiled, and agreed to the lessons. Soon enough the breakfast was devoured, and the two went to school.

At the Samegawa Riverbed, Yu ran into Hope. Or the otherway around really. " _ **Watch out!"**_  Hope called, as he flew out of the tree line and directly into Yu. The two collapsed and laid on the pathway, one confused and the other laughing. " _ **That… was… AWESOME!"**_  Yu slowly got up and put his out for Hope to grab. He noticed and took his hand, pulling himself up in the process. " _ **Yu-sama! You gotta see this!"**_  The Fool just laughed.

"What do I have to see Hope?" He was answered by Hope creating a blue orb.

" _ **Blizzard."**_ Hope then put the orb on the bottom of his left shoe, covering it in a sheet of ice. He then placed the now iced shoe on the pavement, and pushed off with his other shoe, effectively letting him slide forward. He continued to push, gaining speed all the while. The Amnesiac Fool crouched, and put his left hand on the ground and turned around to go back towards Yu. Hope let his other foot drag to start slowing him down. " _ **Pretty Awesome, right?!**_ "

The smile on his face was wide and it was the happiest he had seen him.

"How'd you learn that?" Yu replied with a grin. "And more importantly, can you do it on my shoes as well?" Hope chuckled.

" _ **I'll tell you about it on the way to School."**_  And soon enough they were off, speeding towards Yasogami.

"We could definitely use this in the TV." Hope nodded in agreement.

" _ **Definitely. So yesterday, Marie was complaining about there being nothing to do without you there to keep her busy so Margaret suggested that, since I'm considered 'One of the Community out here' that I could go get her something for entertainment. Marie wanted a bunch of paper and pencils, and Margaret gave me some Yen. And a Time Limit. I had to get to Junes and back in fifteen minutes, and since Junes and the Shopping District are so far away, there was no way I could make it in time. But then I saw something… I think it was of my past. I saw a boomerang that looked strangely familiar to me, and I saw a light blue orb come up to the boomerang, and then it was coated in ice. So I tried to summon the blizzard magic, but once I did summon the magic up, it made a block of ice, like a projectile. I think that my magic is intent based."**_  As an example he rose up his arm. " _ **Blizzard!"**_  The light blue orb appeared in his gloved hand, and he flung it towards the river. Just before the orb reached the river, it exploded into a small block of Ice. The block flowed down the river as Hope looked to Yu. " _ **See?"**_  The Fool nodded in acknowledgement. " _ **I call it Enfrost. I think I would also be able to use the Fire version, Enflame. It might be a huge help for our weapons in the TV too…"**_

"Definitely, we should go in with Yukiko with us too so we can start seeing how we can work as a team. Thursday sound good for you?" Hope nodded. "Good. Alright, that will be the day we surprise the other three. By the way Hope, when does this usually go away?"

Hope's face turned thoughtful. " _ **After around a three minutes of use."**_  A pause. " _ **Oh no."**_  Before Yu could even ask Hope what happened, the Enfrost on his shoe faded away, and the sudden stop of motion made both Yu and Hope stumble and fall, Yu rolling from the motion, being flung from the from the forces upon him. Hope however, was more slightly more graceful, as rolled forward and immediately stood up.

 _Well, at least I'm on time today._  Yu thought as he saw Yasogami in the distance. Hope went over to him and and stuck his hand out to help him up. Yu smiled and accepted his hand.

* * *

***April 19th, Tuesday, After School***

Yu and Hope were tasked with taking down the Goal nets while most of the team left to go home. The Captain, Daisuke Nagase, had just come back from talking to the Coach.

"Hey Guys, where is everyone?" Daisuke asked.

" _ **They went home."**_  Hope replied, as he finished taking down his goal. Yu was walking back with the other net.

"Hey Daisuke! Where are we supposed to put these Nets?" He just shook his head.

"I'll take them. Sorry about the rest of the team guys, they are kind of assholes." Yu just shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. We'll just show them up whenever we play next."

Hope chimed in, " _ **Yeah! We'll just have to train really hard."**_  Daisuke grinned at their enthusiasm.

"That's what I'm talking about! So you guys have played Soccer before?"

"A few times." Yu confidently told the captain.

" _ **Not even once."**_  Hope happily smiled. Daisuke just shook his head.

"This is gonna be a looooong day. Let me go get Kou, so we can work we you both individually."

Once Practice was over, the four teens went to Aiya's for a snack. "You have really improved, Estheim-san! Are you sure you aren't a prodigy?" Daisuke managed to get out before immediately diving back into the bowl.

"Dude, swallow before you talk next time! You're gonna get food everywhere…" Kou grumbled. Daisuke continued to completely ignore him.

" _ **I might be one, I'm not to sure. It just seemed to come naturally to me."**_  Hope blushed, not used to the praise the boy was giving him.

"Yeah, you sure seemed focused whenever you do something. It's pretty impressive."

" _ **As long as I have a goal, I can keep moving forward."**_  Hope said, a small smile on his face. For a brief second, Hope's face went blank while his eyes turned unfocused, and he seemed to mumble something. Yu decided that now was the time to try and prevent anything from being said about the change in Hope's attitude.

"Well, I promised Nanako, my little cousin, that I would help her make dinner tonight, so I better get going. Hope, shouldn't you get going to your guardian's soon? Margaret said she wanted to tell you something right?" The Fool seemed confused, but took the hint.

" _ **Oh damn, you're right, I need to get going. Sorry guys, see you later!"**_  Hope said, as he rose his hand to wave good-bye only for Daisuke to give him a highfive. Yu got one from Kou, and the second both of the high five's connected, time seemed to stop around Yu and Hope. There was the sound of glass breaking.

" _ **I am thou… and thou art I… Thou hast established a new bond… It brings thee closer to the Truth… Thou shalt be blessed with a new ability for your Personas, Power Slash."**_

Both Yu and Hope walked out of Aiya, and Yu turned to the other Fool. "Did you get a Social Link?"

" _ **Huh?"**_ Hope looked surprised for a second then the surprise vanished. " _ **Oh yeah, you've been doing this longer. Mine seems to be different from yours though…"**_

"I would assume so, as mine increase the strength of my Personas, and you said that you don't have any Persona's."

" _ **Yeah. I just Maxed out the Strength Social Link."**_  The other Fool stated.

"Maxed Out!? Already?" Yu questioned, "That's different. Hmm… Did you get anything for maxing it out?"

There was silence on Hope's part, and it seemed empty… and sad. " _ **I get some memories back."**_

 _Oh…_  "I see. Was it a good memory? Or a bad one?"

" _ **A little of both really. It was two memories. One was me in a forest with a woman. She said, 'As long as I have a goal, I can keep fighting. Because it isn't a matter of can or can't. There are something's in life we just do.' The other Memory was in this… city area I think. But there were explosions… and… my Mom… she died. Was wounded and fell of the bridge. She was… fighting someone? That one is really fuzzy."**_  Hope dejectedly told Yu. " _ **But I did learn a new spell. Aero."**_  A pale green orb appeared in his hand. Hope just stared at the orb, gazing at the lightning storm inside it.

"Alright, that's it. You're coming with me. We are gonna get you to do something today besides sitting in the Velvet Room." Hope looked surprised, before being tugged all the way to the Dojima Residence.

* * *

***April 19th, Tuesday, Evening***

Nanako was kind of surprised when Yu brought someone home, but didn't object to it. Yu told Hope to go wash up while he talked quietly to Nanako. "Nanako-chan, I'm sorry, but I had to bring him with me. His name is Hope and he doesn't have his memories. Hope is slowly gaining his memories back, but some of them aren't good, okay?" Nanako's eyes filled with concern.

"He doesn't have his memories… but the ones he is getting back are bad?" Nanako looked over to Hope who was washing his hands.

"Yeah, so you and me, Nanako? We are going to give him some good memories. Is that okay with you?" Yu cautiously asked. The six-year-old looked at Yu and nodded determinedly.

"Yeah! Let's give him lotsa memories!" She then walked over to Hope and started washing up next to him. "So, your name is Hope?" Nanako asked, trying to make small talk with the amnesiac Fool.

" _ **Yeah. My name is Hope Estheim. And you're Nanako?"**_  Hope asked, gazing towards the young girl.

"Yeah! Are you gonna teach me to cook with him?"

" _ **I think he's gonna have to teach us both, I don't really know how to make anything."**_ Hope said with little mirth.

"Oh? I can teach you how to make eggs!" Nanako gave him a smile. Hope's heart melted, as he smiled back to the adorable child next to him.

" _ **I'd like that."**_  Hope replied as he finished washing up.

_Let's hope we can make these memories stay when he gets the rest of them back. We don't know if the rest of his memories or bad or not._

We will do everything we can. We won't let our Hope down.

_Was… was that supposed to be a pun?_

…

_Snrk…_

Shut it.

* * *

***April 21st, Thursday, After School***

"Yo!" Chie greeted Yu as he met up with the rest of the Investigation Team in the Junes Food Court. The Wild Card waved to the group as he sat down.

"What's up Partner?" Yosuke began. "Are we going to go get some practice in with Yukiko?" The woman in question nodded.

"I'd like to be able to get some training in so that we can save others if they get thrown into the T.V."

Yu gave a small shrug. "Something like that. We will give Yukiko some training, but we are also going to be doing something else." Chie tilted her head.

"Well, what is the other thing? C'mon tell us!" The Fool decided to keep up with the plan, and simply pulled out his phone. After going through his short list of contacts, he picked a number and called it.

"You ready?... Alright, we will meet you there…. Yes I'm bringing them." He hung up the phone. "C'mon guys, into the T.V. we go." A little confused and worried, the rest of the team followed him in. Once inside Yu went to the corner well the Velvet Room door was, and rapped his knuckles against the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and Hope stepped out, appearing to the others as though he phased into existence.

"W-what!? Hope-kun? What are you doing here!? Were you thrown in?! Where is your Shadow?" Chie asked. Yosuke however was immediately on guard, with his weapons at the ready and body unnaturally tense.

"I thought something was up! So you're the one behind this! You're gonna PAY DAMN IT!" Yosuke charged towards Hope but Yu moved in between them, Goddess's Grace protecting them.

"Yosuke! I told you before that Hope is safe! Calm Down!" Yu managed to get out as Yosuke continuously assaulted the shield. Teddie, who had just arrived, spoke up.

"Yosuke's lost it! This is Beary Bad. Does anyone have a way to heal him?" Everyone looked around, except for Yosuke and Yu.

"He's inflicted with Rage? Damn it!"  _Come on Yu think! What can we do to stop him?_  Blow after blow, the wrenches began to get worn down from hitting the Mystical Shield. However, the Magician refused to stop attacking, doing everything in his power to attack the boy behind Yu. Hope however, seemed to have an idea.

" _ **Yu, move!"**_ Trusting the other Fool, Yu dodged away. Hope rose his arm and with a steady voice spoke. " _ **Blizzard."**_  The Pale blue orb that Yu came to be familiar with flew towards Yosuke and froze his feet to the ground, preventing him from moving forward again. Once again, Hope cast the spell to freeze his friend's hands together. " _ **We better think of something, quick. We don't want anything bad to happen to us or him."**_

"This is bad! Leader, what do we do?" Chie asked, worry on her face. Yosuke continued to curse at Hope, spitting obscenities at him as the Velvet Fool walked towards the girls of the investigation team, casting Protect on them. Once they had the buff on them, Hope turned back to face Yosuke, and raised his hand towards him. A pale yellow orb appeared in his hand, and stayed there as he protected the others.

"Sensei! What's wrong with Yosuke?"

 _What do I do!? Izanagi doesn't have any healing skills. Damn it Yu hurry up and think! If you don't, another one of your friends are gonna die and…._  Yu made eye contact with Yukiko and everything clicked in his mind.  _Yukiko's Persona!_  "SUMEO-OKAMI!" The Golden Persona appeared above Yu, it's faceless head staring directly at Yukiko, even as Yu cried out his command. **"SALVATION!"** Without removing its gaze from the Priestess, the Persona used the ultimate healing ability, removing Yosuke's rage and healing any damage done to the party. However, the one thing that it doesn't heal, is Spiritual exhaustion. Once the Persona faded away, Yu collapsed, barely able to remain conscious, let alone stand.

* * *

"What happened?" Yosuke asked, as he regained his sanity. The Magician took notice of his hands and feet, then of how Hope was standing in front of a very confused Yukiko and a slightly worried Chie. "What…" He turned his gaze towards Yu and cried out as he saw him on the floor.

His cry drug the attention away from the Junes Heir, and towards the fallen Fool. "Yu!" "Yu-kun!" "Sensei!" The Chariot, the Priestess, and Teddie went over to the Investigation Team's leader and Hope moved to Yosuke.

" _ **You okay now?"**_  Hope asked, turning the orb in his hand from the pale yellow to a faint red.

"Hope-san!? Why are you here? This place is Dangerous! Did someone throw you in here?"

" _ **Don't worry Yosuke, I wasn't thrown in here. The danger has passed. Let me get you out of that ice."**_  Hope lightly touched the orb to the ice around his hands, eventually letting them free. He then went to free his feet. " _ **You were enraged when I showed up Yosuke, and then began attacking Yu and I. It took a while, but Yu was able to heal you. However, it seems as though the skill he used took away almost all of his Spiritual Power. Do you know if he had anything to gain some of his SP back?"**_

Yosuke wasn't entirely sure, so the two of them went to go check on Yu along with the rest of the team. "Yukiko found something in Yu's bag called a 'Chewing Soul', do you think this would work on him?" Chie called to the two. Hope answered her almost immediately.

" _ **Yeah, make sure that you help him chew it, since he's barely there. Yu-sama, if you can hear me, we are going to have a long talk once you get fully conscious."**_  Chie went to work on giving the medicine to Yu, and the entire team relaxed once she was finished. " _ **It will take some time before the medicine works all the way. So, if I remember right the plan was to get Yukiko and I to start practicing with the rest of the team."**_

"You're joining us, Hope-kun?" Yukiko asked. "But you didn't summon a Persona to freeze Yosuke earlier… Oh! Don't tell me, you ARE a Persona!?" Stars seemed to appear in Yukiko's eyes. This brought a chuckle from Hope.

" _ **Not really, Yukiko. I guess if we are going to be on the same team I should tell you about myself. My name is Hope Estheim, and I'm an Amnesiac. Thanks to Yu-sama, I've been able to regain some of my memories, but they are all vague as of yet. The most that I know, is that I can use some kind of spells. They are similar to your Persona's skills, if that helps. There is a lot more that can be told to help explain it to you, but it would be best if Yu-sama told you."**_

Chie seemed confused. "But what about your guardian? Margaret-san, I think it was."

" _ **Classified."**_  Hope said with a small smile. " _ **Again, that's for Yu-sama to tell, not me."**_

Yosuke spoke up this time before Hope could continue, trying to tease the boy.. "And why do you call him 'Sama'?"

" _ **Classified, this coincides with the previous question."**_  Hope paused for a moment. " _ **Anything else? No? Alright, so now it's time to get to work. Yukiko, if you could, please summon your Persona for us?"**_  Only slightly surprised, Yukiko complied.

"Konohana-Sakuya!" The Priestess's Persona Card smashed, which caused the elegant Persona to appear.

" _ **Konohana-san, can you hear me?"**_  Hope called towards the Persona, and everyone was surprised to hear a response.

Yes, Lord Estheim, I can indeed hear you. The voice sounded almost angelic, soothing the team. Chie however, was confused about something else that happened.

"'Lord Estheim'?" Her only response was a confused shrug.

" _ **That's good to know. Would you please inform me of the Powers that you possess?"**_  Without missing a beat, the Persona responded to him.

Yes, Lord Estheim. My abilities include, **Fire** , **Cure** , and **Esuna**. In terms that my True Self would know, would be **Agi, Dia** , and **Me Patra**.

Hope nodded. " _ **I see. So you are a mixture of a Ravager and a Medic. That's good to know."**_  Then he was confused.  _How do I know those terms? What do they mean? Well, Medic makes sense I guess, because Medics heal people, and Cure and Esuna heal people… How do I know that Esuna heals people? And what does Ravager mean?_  " _ **Yukiko-san, have you talked with Konohana-san before?"**_

The Priestess shook her head. "I didn't know that they could talk. I'm sorry Konohana-san, I didn't know."

It is fine, Yukiko-san. Most Persona users do not bother with attempting to communicate with us. Came the Persona's reply.

**_"Konohana-san, I'm terribly sorry, but I have lost my memories. I know next to nothing about my past. Perhaps I could speak to you a tad bit later about some things you might know?"_ **

The Persona nodded and seemed to shrink to human size. Konohana walked over to Hope and kneeled before him. Lord Estheim, you truly have lost your memories? Of your past? Of your abilities? Of Lady Lightning?

Hope grabbed his head as pain suddenly pounded through his skull. His vision clouds and then fades.

* * *

***Hope's POV***

Hope was walking through an unknown area. The Vile Peaks, his memory provides, is dark and full of creatures. He is scared, but determined to live. He is following a woman whose mere presence fills him as he is now with hope, admiration, and… love? The woman must be important to him. He hears her voice.

"With me, it'll be fight after fight. I don't know how it'll end. It's anybody's guess."

They are in a different area of the Vile Peaks now. Monsters approach them, but then are destroyed by the Woman. The blade she uses is familiar. He has seen it recently.

"It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do."

A giant being, Eidolon his memory generously provides for him, fades into a pink rose crystal. The woman faces him, a smirk on her face. Beauty. Strength. Happiness. Love.

"Call me Light."

* * *

 

The pain stops. He can see everyone looking at him. Konohana is gone. In her place is Yu, fully conscious and staring at him with concern in his eyes. "More of them?" He asks softly. Hope understands him.

" _ **Yes."**_  This time is different, and he nearly tears up. " _ **Yu? Can… Can I see your weapon?"**_  It was a strange request, he knew. But Yu responded by handing it to him. Hope held it in his hands and took a deep breath.

"Can you handle it?"  _Lightning_

"Hope?"

Hope opened up the Blazefire Sabre. He gave it a swing.

"I don't know yet. But I do know we can't lose hope."  _Lightning..._

"Hope-kun?"

He swung again.

"There's you."  _Light..._

"Hope-san…"

He swung again.

"This is not an ordeal, this a gift! Hope, this the kind of power you've got inside. And it's telling you not to give up. Trust me."  _Light._

"Hope…"

He swung again.

"This is it. A lot of dreams died to get us here, and we can't let it be for nothing."  _Light!_

"..."

He stopped swinging.

"Don't touch anything. Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy. How can I explain? Think of it like a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else. Still your mind. Move on instinct. Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you."

" _ **... I'm sorry."**_ He's crying. He knows it. They know it. He doesn't care. " _ **I didn't mean to forget you."**_  She can't hear him. She isn't there. Hope falls to his knees, his body wracking with sobs. Minutes pass before anything is said. And it takes the Investigation Team by surprised by what is said.

" _ **Thunder."**_  The orb appears in his hand, and he tosses it. A lightning bolt falls from the sky and strikes the ground. " _ **Thunder."**_  He tosses another one. Lightning strikes again. Lightning. " _ **Thunder."**_  He drops the orb directly in front of him. The hair on his arms stands up on it's ends as the lightning falls again. " _ **L-Light."**_

Yu sits next to him. **"Zio."** Izanagi comes, and throws lightning out. It strikes the ground, and Hope just watches it, tears now silently streaking down his face. " **Zio."** The lightning comforts him. He hands the weapon to Yu, who sheathes the weapon. "Hope?"

" _ **Yes?"**_  His voice is empty.

"You want to practice a different day?"

" _ **Please."**_

"Alright. Want me to stay with you?" Hope nods. "Let me send the others home, okay?" He nods again. Yu leaves, then a minute later he is back. The two sit in the entrance of the T.V world for a long while, no words being said, besides the occasional ' **Zio** ', and ' **Thunder'**.


	12. A Renewed Hope

***APRIL 21st, Thursday, Afternoon***

Once the two Fools left the T.V. world, One to the Velvet Room, the Other to the Junes Electronics Department. Yu quickly caught sight of the others, and approached them.

"Hey guys! Sorry about that. Hope is a bit better, I'm not sure if he'll show up at school tomorrow, though." Chie turned around with tears in her eyes, nearly hysterical with worry for her friend.

"He… he seemed so broken, Yu! When he swung your sword, he just... He seemed like he had given up. Like it didn't matter if he existed or not. What did he remember to make him like that?!"

"I have an idea, but it's not up to me to tell you." Was Yu's response. He gazed over to Yukiko, who seemed distant, with eyes glazed over and hadn't spoken a word since he told them to leave the T.V. "Yukiko? Are you okay?"

At her name, her eyes suddenly focused and she fell to her knees. "It's my fault. It's because of my Persona! It's MY FAULT!" She almost immediately burst into tears. Yosuke went to her and tried to calm her.

"Yukiko, if anything, it was my fault. I was enraged, like how the Shadows have the ability to do to us. If I wasn't enraged, we would've gone along with the plan and everything would be fine." Yu however wasn't having it.

"It was my fault, because I passed out after healing Yosuke. If I didn't, then Hope wouldn't have needed to try and lead the group. So, to prevent you two from having a pity party, it was all of our faults. That means when we see him next we will apologize. Now let's all go home okay? It's been a long day, and we all need some rest." Soon enough, they all agreed and went their separate ways.

You need to vent.

_I don't need to vent._

Yes you do. You can't keep blaming yourself for everything.

_What else am I supposed to do Izanagi? Go around and pretend everything's alright? It isn't Izanagi, my friend has regained some of his memories and then immediately broke down. What could he have remembered about this Light person? Is that the same person he mentioned before, when we bonded?_

Yu. Breathe. You are just a Teenager. You do not have experience with someone with Amnesia. You need to bring someone else in, or to vent to someone.

_But who? Who am I supposed to vent to?_

"Kid?" Came a voice behind him.

Hello, Deus Ex Machina.

"Claire-san?" Yu asked, sounding tired. Claire put her hand on his shoulder.

"Kid? You okay?" The woman helped him before, maybe she can help him again.

"This… is hard for me to say. But, c-can you help me?" Claire took him by the arm and dragged him back to the food court, sitting across from him at a nearby table.

"A teenager asking for help? What has the world come to?" She dryly asked to herself. "Sure kid. What's up?" Yu looked away from her.

"I'm asking for a friend." He started.

"Oh really? A 'friend'?" Claire replied.

"Not the hypothetical, 'it's actually for me' friend. Like, an actual different person friend." This caught the woman's attention.

"I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll do everything I can to help. Let me hear it, kid."

"Well, my friend… he has amnesia. And recently, he's been regaining some of his memories…" Yu said, trying to put his words together correctly.

Claire nodded in understanding. "That's good then, right?" Yu shook his head in response.

"I'm not sure anymore. At first when I met him, I promised him I'd try to help him out, but now, I'm not positive him regaining his memories is the best thing for him." Claire raised an eyebrow.

"How is it not a good thing?"

"Well… when he first gained some memories, he grabbed his head and started screaming. Like, whatever he was remembering was terrifying. He never elaborated about what he remembered. My friend just told me he remembered a woman. He never gave me any details, mostly because I don't believe that he knew any. And just a little while ago, My friend and I were hanging out with some of our other friends, and then one of my friends said something which could be considered pointless, you know? Like it held very little significant impact. Just a question I think." Yu took a breath before continuing. "But then he remembered something else. He grabbed his head in pain. He kept saying the same words over and over again. 'Thunder. Thunder. Thunder. Lightning. Lightning. Light.' Then he started apologizing. Not to us, and to be honest, I don't even think he could see us at that point. I think he was remembering the woman again. Our other friends left, at my insistence, to make sure only I could see him break down, as it would be embarrassing if everyone you knew saw you cry, you know? Then he said something after a while as he was staring at something. It was a graphic playing on one of the TV's in the Electronics department. It was of a thunderstorm, with lightning flashing constantly. He said, 'Lightning flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect, only destroy.' But then he said something back, like he was talking to someone else. 'That's why you're Light to me. You're always there for me, especially when I need you, always protecting me. But then I forgot you. I'm sorry.' Then he kept apologizing." Yu stopped. He looked close to hyperventilating. "What am I supposed to do?"

Claire took the story in all the way. She couldn't believe it. She refused to get her hopes up only to be crushed. What are the odds that his friend could be the same person that Claire had been looking for, for the past lifetime? She shook her head. The odds are extremely low. "Kid." The single word seemed to calm her younger friend. "The most you can do is stay with him. Be there for him, while he looks for his Light. You have to give him hope while he has none. If your friend is going through hard times, you have to stick with them through those times. Otherwise, your friend could go through some worse things. For all you know, this could be the end of the bad. But, it could also just be the beginning. If you are truly friends with them, be with them in these hard times. Years ago, I had a friend who was depressed and nearly shot himself. He didn't however, and shot above his head, as he remembered he had someone, his son, to live for. In this case, think of your friend as my friend, and you as his son. You could be the ONLY reason your friend is still living." She saw the Fool's eyes widen, and knew her point had been made. "And I know from personal experience, that you can't do something like that alone. So if you ever need to talk about this, come tell me. Give me a call, or send me an email. Notify me so you don't end up drowning from stress. I'm not going to let my friends down, and you're one of them."

Yu nodded, and time around him froze. Glass shattered in the distance.

" _ **Rank up! Your bond has grown as you understand life as it is, better. You will be blessed with help from the Universe in the future."**_

_Is she… the Person who is connected to the Universe Arcana?_

Well, we will not exactly know for sure, unless you can see what people's arcanas are.

_Can we do that? I should talk to Igor._

Time unfroze around them. "Claire… thank you. Oh yeah! What about you? Any luck with getting the Detective Prince? Or any clues about Serah?"

She nodded. "The 'Detective Prince' did respond, and said that because of a different job, he would be coming to Inaba anyways. I believe it's because of the Serial Murder case, but he said he would hear me out."

Yu smiled. "I heard that the 'Detective Prince' may put on a cold facade, but is really kind-hearted. As long as you explain everything, he should take the case. Keep me updated okay?"

Saying their goodbyes, the two left the food court, both feeling distracted for the same reason. However, neither of the two knew for a fact that the main source of the others distraction was one Hope Estheim.

* * *

***April 22nd, Friday, Lunchtime***

Yu was sitting at his desk with the other members of the investigation team. Contrary to their belief, Hope did indeed show up to school. However, he didn't put on a mask to pretend that everything was okay. It seemed that with each memory Hope remembers, the more he wears his heart on his sleeve. His eyes were hauntingly vacant, almost as if he retreated inside himself. He seemed to ignore them as they apologized, and in hindsight, apologizing didn't seem to help anything.

"Is there anything we can do?" Yosuke asked aloud to the others, concern written on his face. Chie looked at Yu, desperate for an answer, and Yukiko seemed to be ignoring her food.

"Be there for him." Yu answered after a pause. "We don't know what he is going through. So we have to stick close to him, and make sure that when he opens up, that we don't suffocate him. What he remembers as of now seems to be something that affects him in some way, and we don't know what kind of memory it is. From what I can assume, it seems to be an important memory, and he is extremely upset that he forgot it." This seemed to catch Yukiko's attention.

"But from the way he reacted, it seemed as though it was a bad memory, to the point where he was being attacked and resorted to throwing his spells in defense." Yu seemed to understand what she was saying.

"That does make sense, but I heard more from him yesterday, as he was mostly talking to himself. The lightning that he summoned wasn't really to defend himself, but more likely that he was comforting himself. That's why I threw in a few **Zios** , to try and make him more comfortable. We don't really know what the lightning could be reminding him of, but as long as he is physically safe, we shouldn't have to worry too much."

"He hasn't eaten." Chie spoke up. She was right, Yu noticed. Hope had yet to move all day, to write any notes, to go use the bathroom, or to remove some food from his bag or desk.

"Well, I anticipated this happening so, I made food for everyone." This caught them all by surprise, as Yu pulled out five separate containers. "Curry is the dish today. Well, not exactly by myself, I had my cousin Nanako help out. She's six and wanted to learn more about cooking." As Yu passed out the food to each of the individuals, he took in each of their expressions. Yosuke seemed surprised that Yu could cook, Chie was ecstatic that food was being offered, Yukiko seemed contemplative, mostly at the aspect that there was more food being put in her direction, and Hope stared at him.

" _ **Nanako-chan helped with this?"**_  The Velvet Fool asked, the smallest smile on his face. " _ **Then I can't wait to eat it."**_  It was the first words he spoke all day, and the only time today where his eyes weren't blank. The bright emerald green seemed to be filled with a joy that echoed across the rest of the Investigation Team as Hope's presence seemed to put a smile on the team's face. " _ **How is she doing, Yu-sama?"**_

"Nanako is doing great, in fact, she misses her cooking buddy. She wanted to know when the next lesson was. I told her I had to talk to the rest of the class first." He gave Hope a pointed look. "I just have to wait for the class to answer."

" _ **I take it the class is me?"**_  Hope replied, his smile turned to a smirk. " _ **Well maybe if the Sensei had bothered to make a schedule of when the cooking class would meet, half the class would show up."**_  This made the rest of the group laugh as Yu playfully nudged Hope.

"Don't you get sassy with me! No wonder Nanako is my favorite student." The two Fools glared at each other before dissolving into laughing fits. Once the laughing stopped, Yu spoke up. "Well everyone, please, dig in!" Not being needed to be told twice, Chie immediately attacked to food only to stop.

"D-did you really make this?" Yu nodded in confirmation. "This is the best curry I've ever had! Delicious!" Yosuke was the next to respond.

"Damn partner, that's some high praise right there! Let me try some of this." Yosuke took a bite of the curry and immediately dropped his utensils. "Dude. Can you cook for every meal?" Yu just laughed of the praise barely noticing Yukiko take a bite.

"Is it possible to have more students for your cooking class?" The Priestess asked.

"I don't think there is much room in my kitchen. But, Dojima-san does have a grill out back. Maybe I can show you guys some American Barbecue. How about some Hamburgers?" The general consensus was that after school, they would all go to Junes and then head over to the Dojima Residence.

* * *

* **April 22nd, Friday, After School***

"Alright class!" Yu spoke, taking on the stance of a determined teacher. "The first lesson on cooking, is thus. If you can not master this lesson, you will never be able to cook anything!" He may have started to draw some looks from some passerby shoppers, but he ignored them, instead focusing on his students. "The first lesson, is ingredients! Yosuke, tell me, if I were to make Hamburgers as we planned, what is the main ingredient?" The Magician seem startled at suddenly being called out.

"You're taking this pretty serious, aren't you?" He started but quickly stopped getting off-track as Yu glared at him. "Uh, Beef! … Right?"

"BEEF! Excellent answer Yosuke. Now, that was your only hint. All of you, split up and grab your ingredients for burgers. You will eat what you cook from your ingredients. Go!" At the command the Investigation Team took off in separate directions. Hope just looked at Yu.

" _ **If we are all making the same thing, why are they going different ways?"**_  Yu shrugged as his answer before calling Nanako.

" _Hello, Dojima Residence."_  Came Nanako's voice from the otherside of the line.

"Hey Nanako, it's me."

" _Oh! Are you going to be home late today?"_  She asked, slightly worried.

"Only a little bit. I'm at Junes right now. I'm going to pick up some groceries for another one of our cooking lessons."

" _Cooking lessons! Does that mean Hope-san is coming over?"_  Yu motion for Hope to come closer. He removed the phone from his head and handed it to Hope.

Puzzled, he answered the phone. " _ **Hello?"**_  He was immediately greeted by Nanako's joy.

" _Hope-san!"_  Hope couldn't help but smile into the phone.

" _ **Hello Nanako-chan. Yu-sama wants to make Hamburgers for tonight's lesson."**_

" _Ham...burgers?"_

" _ **You haven't had Hamburgers before Nanako-chan? That's okay, we will experience them together! I'll go ahead and get your ingredients for you."**_

" _Thank you Hope-san! You're the best! I'll see you both when you get here!"_  She then hung up the phone.

"I think she likes you, Hope." The Amnesiac just smiled.

" _ **Shut up and get your ingredients to show us all up."  **_Yu laughed aloud.

* * *

* **April 22nd, Friday, Evening***

The entire Investigation Team arrived at the Dojima Residence, ingredients in hand. Nanako was more than a little surprised. "Hey Nanako, I'm sorry about this, but it seems that some other students wanted to learn how to cook. Is that okay?" She nodded and started to go up the stairs. "Nanako? Where are you going? The grill is outside, not upstairs."

" _ **Yeah, how are you going to cook with us if you're not there?"**_  Hope added, trying to get her to stay with the rest of them.

"Can… can I really?" Chie spoke up in response to the young girl.

"Of course! You're Nanako-chan, right? I'm Chie Satonaka! This here is Yukiko Amagi and Yosuke Hanamura. We're friends of Yu's. Is it okay if we sit in on this lesson, Nanako-chan." Nanako seemed more at ease, whether it was because she now knew their names, or because there were more girls there, Yu didn't know.

"That's okay. Let's get started!" Time seemed to fly by as Yu taught the group how to cook, carefully adding pointers to Nanako and Hope as they took their turns at the grill, and tried to push the point that you had to follow the recipe word for word to Chie and Yukiko.

"You don't want to burn the meat, but you also don't want to under-cook it either. You want to make sure you cook it enough to where the flavor of the meat is still there. Make sure to cut the meat in the center so you can see if it's a good color. You want a hint of pink, as too dark makes it taste bland, and too light makes it impossible to eat in the form of a hamburger. It'd be better used as ground meat instead if it's cooked too long."

Yosuke didn't need too much help, which was surprising, as in the previous timeline/existence, Yu never saw Yosuke cook at all. Once all the meat was cooked, they made sure the flame on the grill was off, and brought the meat inside to keep it away from any potential bugs.

"Alright, well it seems as though you all passed on the meat section. Now this next part for the burgers is all up to you, the eater. Here are the buns, here are the vegetables, and here are the condiments. We will take turns making them to prevent any mishaps. Nanako, do you want me to help you? Or do you want to do it on your own?"

She seemed unsure of herself as she replied. "I never had a Hamburger before. Can you make me one?" Yu nodded.

"Yeah, so let's have you go first. Come with me so you can make sure that next time you can make it yourself." Yu took her through step by step. "So bread first. Now I'm going to make you this burger that I saw back in my time in America. Condiments are next, so Ketchup and mustard on the top bun, enough so you can taste it, but not too much to make a mess. Now let's sprinkle some salt and pepper on that, again, not too much to overpower the other flavors, but enough to add it's own flavor. Next would be vegetables, which is going to be up to you. Are you allergic to anything Nanako?"

"I don't think so. Dad doesn't let me have wasabi, so I might be allergic to that." Nanako answered. Yu smiled.

"Well it's good that Hamburgers almost hardly ever have Wasabi." Yosuke spoke up.

"Almost?"

"Well it was in America. They do have some strange things there." That was enough to convince Yosuke. "So let us put lettuce, tomato, pickles. Do you like onions, Nanako?"

"Only a little bit." Yu nodded.

"What about jalapenos?" She nodded again with a small smile.

"I like things a little spicy!"

"Alright. Well all that's left is the meat, and then the bottom bun." He turned the burger right side up and handed the burger to Nanako. "Tada~!" The rest of the group made their own burgers, and sat around the floor table. "Everyone, I hope you enjoy the fruits of your labor. Dig in!"

The group began to eat and made small talk. The conversation was of little consequence, until Chie spoke up. "Isn't it nice to have a big-bro who can cook Nanako-chan?"

"Big...bro?" There was silence, as she seemed to ponder the term. She blushed and then nodded. "Yeah!"

_Chie I love you in the most platonic way right now. I finally get to be called Big-Bro again…_

Yosuke spoke up, wanting to join in on this conversation. "Yeah, I bet this goes right on up there with your-"

"Uncle Dojima doesn't cook. He mostly just get's take out." Yu spoke up, giving Yosuke a pointed look. He didn't seem to understand the look though, as he continued his thought.

"But what about her mom?"

"My mom's dead." Came Nanako's sad reply.

 _Damn it Yosuke!_  Yu thought, putting his arm around Nanako to comfort his cousin. His 'Little-Sister'. Chie gave her thoughts outloud. "Yosuke!"

Yosuke quietly cursed. "I'm sorry Nanako-chan, that was insensitive of me."

Nanako shook her head. "It's okay. I'm not alone, I still have a dad. And I have a big-bro now too!" She gave a happy smile that warmed Yu's heart. The two 'siblings' made eye-contact and time stopped around Yu. The sound of glass breaking in the distance reached his ears.

_**"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thy bond will bring the truth ever closer to you… Thou shalt be blessed by gaining the ability Mahama for all of your Personas."** _

Time resumed, and Nanako then looked over to his friends, staring directly at Hope as she spoke. "And I've made some great friends, and even greater memories thanks to all of you."

In the span of a second, Yu saw concern and a brief flash of pain flash through Hope's eyes. But then, he smiled. " _ **I've made some great memories with you too, Nanako-chan."**_  The symbol of the Justice Arcana simple smiled and gave a small, musical 'Yay~' and the atmosphere lost all it's tenseness.

"Oh yeah, Nanako, guess what?" Yu started, trying to keep Nanako's smile there. She looked curious.

"What?" Her eyes were slightly wide, expecting something like a secret.

"Yosuke here? He works at Junes!" She gasped.

"You work at Junes! I LOVE Junes!" Yosuke seemed taken aback, expecting payback for bringing up her mother, but getting adorable affection from the young girl.

"N-Nanako-chan…"

"Everyday's great at your Junes~!" She sang the jingle, doing a little dance along with the tune.

"You're a good singer, Nanako-chan!" Yukiko praised. Nanako proudly responded with telling them that she was the best in her class.

" _ **That reminds me."**_  Hope started, bringing everyone's attention to him. " _ **Speaking of songs, has anyone heard of a song called 'Promise'? I remember hearing it."**_  Yosuke answered him.

"Yeah, that's one of Risette's new songs." This seemed to surprise everyone there, mostly Hope and Nanako for different reasons.

"I love Risette!" Nanako managed to get out, her inner fangirl coming to the outside. Hope's reaction on the other hand seemed confused.

" _ **Risette?"**_  He asked. Yu explained a little more to the amnesiac.

"Risette is her stage name. Her real name is Rise Kujikawa. But this is the first time I've heard of that song name."  _I didn't really look too much into Rise's music in the other life. This could have been a song that came out last time._

"Here, I'll play it for you. It's not like her other songs, this one is more on the slow-side." Yosuke offered, pulling out his phone and the started going through his music options. Once he found it, he pressed a button and music began to play.

_Make my wish come true, let darkness slip aside_

_Hiding all our hope, mocking what we treasure_

_Battles we can win, if we believe our souls_

_Hang in for the light, till dawn_

_Fate will not leave you, hate will not heal you_

_Pray and one day, peace shall flow everywhere_

Yu glanced over to Hope's face and was surprised to tears sliding down his face, his eyes closed, seeming to be in a different world than the rest of them.

_Make my wish come true, let darkness fade to light_

_Show me there's still hope, show me it's not over_

_Battles we can win, our struggle lies within_

_Will we live to greet the dawn?_

_Love will not leave you, hate will not heal you_

_Promise me one day that peace shall reign_

It was surprising short, Yu noted, compared to most songs. It seemed to last only around a minute and a half. But for Hope on the other hand, he seemed to be hearing more than the rest of them. It was quiet when Yosuke put his phone away, but the silence was surprisingly broke by Hope, who still seemed to be in a different place. The Velvet Fool began to sing.

" _ **Step into the rainbow, find another view**_

_**Chase the tender light, borders let's cross over** _

_**Ready to define the mists inside your heart?** _

_**Take a breath and start your life** _

_**Waves of a new day** _

_**Clear all the gloom away** _

_**Hope is what we simply need to proceed** _

_**Waves of a new day** _

_**Clear all the gloom away** _

_**Hope is what we simply need to proceed"** _

The tears kept flowing as passion filled Hope's voice, and he hummed a joyous tune. Once finished, he began again.

" _ **Step into the rainbow, world you never knew**_

_**Chase the arcs of light, soar beyond your sorrows** _

_**Dance among the colors, let them be your dreams** _

_**Close your eyes and see anew** _

_**Dawn of the new day** _

_**Clears all our gloom away** _

_**This is the hope that we need to go on** _

_**Dawn of the new day** _

_**Clears all the gloom away** _

_**This is the hope that we need to go on"** _

Silence passed, and then Hope opened his eyes. He seemed to notice that everyone was staring at him. " _ **Did… did I do that out loud?"**_  Nanako responded to the question that voiced everyone else's thoughts.

"Wow! You're a good singer Hope-san!"Applause suddenly erupted from Yukiko, who started chanting for an encore. Hope turned her down.

" _ **I'm sorry Yukiko-chan, but there won't be an encore from me. I don't even know what came over me. It's just… that song used to be sung by a friend of mine. She was the best singer out of all of us. In fact if it wasn't for her…"**_  Hope paused and ran a hand through his hair before continuing. " _ **I wouldn't be here."**_  Yu tilted his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Hope shook his head.

" _ **I don't know. I know that doesn't really make since, but I know for a fact that without her, I wouldn't be here."**_

"Do you know anything about her?" Chie asked. Hope held his head in thought.

" _ **I know her voice. And… I think we just listened to it."**_  The team looked at him, some with doubt, others with acceptance.

"You're saying that your friend is Risette?" Yosuke asked.

" _ **I'm not saying that. The name Rise Kujikawa doesn't fit in my memory anywhere. I believe today is the first day I heard about it. I think her name starts with an 'S'."**_  Hope shook his head. " _ **I think it's best if we don't try to push any more. I don't think we will be able to get anymore information out of that."**_

The rest of the group nodded. It wouldn't do good trying to force someone to remember things they couldn't. Soon enough, the group parted ways and Ryotaro was welcomed with his own burger when he got home that night.


	13. Memories of a Distant Past

***April 29th, Friday, Afternoon***

The next few days went by without much incident. On the previous Monday, he was practically forced into joining a cultural club. Yu however, really did not want to join the band again, not that he had anything against Ayane, of course, it was mostly just the fact that the most of the people in the band were really judgy.  He looked at the Drama Club, but decided against it in the long run. Sure, he might have the ability to change his Persona, and thus his personality, at will, but then where would the fun be in that? The Fool wanted to do something new. A trip to the teacher’s lounge informed him that the Home Economics club recently ended, with all the clubs members leaving with the third years, and with a little bit of (reluctant) help from Hope, he was able to start his own Cooking Club. They would meet Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays for around an hour, starting next week.

Today, however, was a day that Yu had been waiting for. He had trained since his stay in Inaba the last year, and he refused to give up on his goal. Hope and Chie were supporting him, one on each side of the Wild Card. Only one emotion could be seen on his friends faces. Concern. They had asked him if he was sure about this, if he really thought he was ready. Yu answered in the affirmative, determined to do what he needed to do.

He took a deep breath in, and then with as much bravery he could muster, called out “ONE MEGA BEEF BOWL, PLEASE!” The shout gathered all the attention in the Chinese Diner, and very quickly the restaurant had gathered around Yu as the chef slowly brought out the Mega Beef Bowl. There were several people calling out encouragement, and once he had the chopsticks in hand, a chanting started in the crowd, as was custom for the challenge.

“ NIKU RERUMU! NIKU RERUMU! NIKU RERUMU!

“Itadakimasu!” Yu called out, and began savagely attacking the bowl. Hope watched in awe, while Chie looked on in admiration. She had tried tackling the Rainy Day Mega Beef Bowl Challenge before, and didn’t even make a dent in the massive amount of meat. It was, as the crowd was chanting, like a portal to the Meat Dimension. Yu was a beast, tearing into the dish with all of his might. From her point of view, he treated the meat like he treated Shadows. He pulverized, decimated, and annihilated the meat. It was slightly scary, and if she was honest, kind of hot.

She looked over at Hope to get his thoughts on the challenge, but as she opened her mouth to speak to him, Hope’s eyes glazed over, and the expression on his face was one of fear.

***Hope’s POV***

***Flashback***

Giant jaws descend on the small pack of Uridimmu, turning the beast into chunks of meat as the beast cried out it’s last cry. The Humbaba finished eating the Uridimmu, then turned its attention to him and his allies. He was terrified. But they were counting on him, he was the leader of the party this time. He couldn’t let them down. Hope cried out to his teammates. “ Guerrilla!” 

A deep purple glow came over him, and in his peripheral vision, he saw the gray and blue glows meaning a successful Paradigm shift.  _ Synergist _ . He thought, as he threw several spells at his comrades behind him. “Protect! Haste! Enfire!” He learned his lesson from the last battle with the dreaded Humbaba, the spells ‘Watera’ and ‘Blizzara’ did not do damage and did half damage respectively. Fire, and it’s upgraded version, Fira, however  did do damage to the beast. Double the damage in fact. 

Once the three of party members had been buffed, he called out again to his comrades. “Relentless Assault!” A blue glow washed over him, and over one of his other allies. A red glow went towards the other ally.  _ Ravager _ . His goal was to stagger the beast, to make it more susceptible to spells and attacks. He was joined by the other Ravager, who flew past him along with the Commando of the party. A flash of Pink jumped around the Humbaba, striking it with the physical Ravager spells, as he threw the magical spells. With the Commando’s lance now enchanted with Fire thanks to his buff, the beast was quickly staggered, causing the leader of the party to call out “Smart Bomb!” 

The only real change to the glows was the Commando’s changing to a gray glow. The now Saboteur continuously threw the same five spells to debilitate the behemoth, Deprotect, Deshell, Slow, Poison, and Imperil. With the spells now dealing more damage to the beast, he knew the debuffs successfully stayed on the beast. It was time to finish the fight. 

“Aggression!” Hope’s glow stayed Blue, while the other Ravager’s and Saboteur’s glow changed to red, marking them now as Commandos. The assault continued, with Hope raining down ‘Fire’ spells as the Melee attackers descended upon the beast. It was almost over, and he felt joy and pride at the fact that the dreaded mark, Humbaba was destroyed under  _ His _ leadership, not the infinitely stronger Fang’s or the amazingly fast Light’s. Hope’s. 

As Hope was about to throw the final spell, a large wind started up and launched the fighters into the air.  _ Oh no. _ He had forgotten, at low health, the strongest of the Behemoths stood up. The beast grabbed it’s horn and yanked. In the past, Hope would have been confused, but now the fear he had initially felt had come back with full force. As the horn gave way, it was revealed to be a giant sword, which it promptly used against the party slamming the broad side of the sword into his allies, flinging them away from the beast. Due to the sword just barely missing him, he fell to the ground below him, the force of the wind following the blade to spin him around. He was sure if the situation had not been so dire, the sight would have been comical. The impact of the ground took away his breath and as he struggled to get up.  _ We’re gonna die, it’s all my fault. We’re gonna die here! _

Hope looked up and saw the beast closing in on him, it’s giant jaws opening at the sight of the snack in front of it. His vision started to fade and his body swayed. He tried to place his hand down to try and catch himself only to fall. Confused, he looked down to his arm to investigate what happened.  _ It’s… gone. _ In his right arms place, was a rather large pool of blood.  _ I guess the blade didn’t exactly miss me.  _

The beast was upon him now, he was sure of it. His vision was covered in white.

“Hope?” He heard a woman’s voice. ... _ Mom? _

“Is that you… Mom? Don’t worry… I’m coming to be with you.” Hope spoke as his breath grew shallow, .

“Hope!”

***End Flashback***

“HOPE!”

The Velvet Fool opened his eyes, seeing Yu and Chie… on top of him?  **_“W-what happened?”_ ** He asked. Almost immediately after he closed his mouth, his head began to throb, signaling the pain his always felt after regaining a memory. He subconsciously ran his hand up his right arm, comforting him from the memory he just had.“ **_Oh. Sorry…”_ ** Hope sat up as he noticed himself on the floor of Aiya, a decent crowd around them, shock and worry on the face of the majority of them. His face felt wet, so he reached up to wipe the wetness away. He was crying.

Quickly, Hope got up and ran from the diner and into the rain, embarrassed and ashamed. He had distracted Yu from his challenge, and probably embarrassed him in front of that group of people. He kept running and running, all his thoughts leaving him except for a select few.  _ Run. Breathe. Don’t Stop. Run. Why? Keep Running. Don’t. RUN. STOP. _ Hope looked up, and noticed he was at the Samegawa riverbank. The singular awning was empty and he quickly took cover under it. He panted from the exhaustion and slammed his head down on the wooden table.

His phone rang. He ignored the ringing. Only a few people had his number. Yu, Yosuke, Kou and Daisuke. At this point, probably Chie, as Yu was now looking for him. He let it ring. Eventually it stopped, only to start up again. He ignored it again. 

**_“You really messed up this time Hope.”_ **

“Hope-san?” Called a voice. He sat up and looked at towards the voice. “Oh did I startle you?” The girl sat across from him, closing her umbrella. He knew her name, he was sure of it.

**_“I’m sorry, I’m not the best with names, but you’re Yukiko-san, right?”_ ** He asked. She nodded.

“I think we’ve only met outside of school one other time.” She offered as an excuse which he gladly took. 

**_“And what a disaster that was.”_ ** Hope dryly told her. Yukiko gave smiled.

“It was indeed. Hopefully next time it will be a bit better.” There was a pause, then an “Oh no…” A hand moved to her stomach, the other to her mouth as her eyes widened.  _ Is she gonna throw up? _ He worried. His worry however was unnecessary. “Hahahahahaha!” She laughed loudly, and used her whole body when doing so. Her eyes were filled with mirth, and she moved the hand covering her mouth to her thigh as she slapped it. The boy had no clue what was so funny.

The continuous laughter eventually caused Hope to start laughing as well, the sheer absurdity of the day catching up to the boy.  **_“Hahahahaha!”_ ** it had been much too long since the boy had laughed, the noise sounding foreign to his own ears. After time had passed, the two had stopped laughing. The atmosphere now much lighter, Yukiko started to talk to Hope.

“What are you doing out here?” Came the innocent question that Hope didn’t want to answer. They were on the same team, and she already knew of his situation, so it shouldn’t be that bad for him to tell her… _ Right? _

**_“You remember what I told you the other day?”_ ** It was a rhetorical question, but she nodded anyway.  **_“Well, sometimes when I regain memories, the memories that are really intense drag me into them. It’s like I’m watching through a different person, a first person movie if you will. I am seeing through the old me’s eyes, and remember what I was thinking then. When it gets like this, I have no control of my actual body. So, I was with Yu-sama and Chie-kun, who decided to do that challenge that Aiya has on rainy days, and as he began to eat, I was pulled into a memory. And when I came out of it, the entire group that was chanting for Yu was now surrounding me instead. I left before I could cause them anymore embarrassment.”_ ** Hope simply stayed silent after he told her his story. 

Yukiko sat there for a moment before getting up and walking over to the other side. She did nothing but sat next to him. Not knowing what she was doing, Hope shrunk down on himself, trying to do the impossible and hide from the person right next to him. He was completely unprepared when the unexpected happened. She hugged him. “It’s going to be okay Hope-kun…” she whispered into his ear, comfortingly stroking his hair. 

_ W-what is she doing? Why is she… hugging me?  _

Eventually, Hope felt his face get wet, and his body was shaking. The Velvet Fool’s chest felt heavy, and he was slightly confused, until he heard Yukiko whisper, “It’s okay, let it all out.” He was crying. And once that realization his him, he openly sobbed. He cried, and cried, about how unfair it was, for both him and the others, about his lost memories, and about his previous friends and family. He cried until he couldn’t cry anymore. Yukiko didn’t let go the entire time, and simply comforted him. “Better?” She asked, with a simple smile on her face. And if Hope was being honest with himself, he was.

**_“You know what? Yeah, I do.”_ ** And for a brief second time stopped.

**_"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a genuine bond... The innermost power of the Priestess Arcana has been set free. With this bond, the truth of who you are grows ever closer. Remember young one, I am always with you. Whether you believe it or not, Time is on your side.”_ **

And with those words spoken to him by the mysterious voice that accompanied by the Social Link being Maxed out, he remembered the specifics of one of the spells he used in his most recent memory.  _ Haste _ . 

**_“Thank you… Yukiko.”_ ** And they sat there together until the rain let up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NIKU RERUMU! = Meat Realm


	14. The Castle Revisited

***April 29th, Friday, Evening***

Rain pattered against the window, as the clock in Yu's room ticked slowly towards Midnight. It was a habit that he had yet to grow out of, as his worry consumed him every time the fog was about to let up. The main reason was the nightmares, where somehow, the person who was thrown into the TV ended up back in the TV world after they were saved. He would run as fast as he could and do what he could save them.

It's almost time . Came Izanagi's calming voice.

_ I know. I hope my worry is for nothing. _ As he finished his thought, the Static from the TV came to life, and it showed a silhouette of a male.  _ What!? _

The silhouette walked closer to the screen, slowly getting more and more clear. Slicked back yellow hair came into view, along with a skull T-shirt, a bullet chain necklace, and a small hole in the center of his head. That wasn't what caught Yu's attention though. Silver eyes…

"K-Kanji?"

_ "Yo Senpai!" _ came his loud confident voice, ever embraced in pride and happiness.  _ "How ya hangin'?" _ Yu slowly got off the bed, and moved in front of the T.V, sitting on the small table in his room.

"I-I'm doing okay Kanji. I… I'm so sor-"

_ "You don't have to be Senpai," _ The Dead Emperor interrupted the Fool.  _ "It was my own fault after all. Had to be a show off, ya know?" _ Yu clenched his fist.

"But I didn't do anything to save you! I hardly acted at all! I'M THE REASON ALL OF YOU ARE DEAD!" In hindsight, Yu would be glad that Ryotaro was out at work and that Nanako was staying at a friend's house. "I DIDN'T DO A DAMN THING AND THAT'S WHY YOU'RE ALL DEAD!" Yu's voice was filled with self-loathing, pure rage at his own failure. He slammed his head into his hand, angry tears falling from his eyes.

_ "SHUT UP, DAMMIT!" _ came Kanji's voice. Yu's head shot up, seeing his spirit angrily glare at him.  _ "HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO MOVE ON, ACTING LIKE THIS?" _

Kanji-kun! Yu-kun! The two boys turned to see a nearly transparent Sumeo-Okami. It was the voice, however, that attracted the attention of Yu, instead of the new appearance.

"Y-Yukiko-san!?"

_ "Yukiko! Ya beat me here? Damn it. I wanted to be the first one!" _

You know why I was first, Kanji-kun.

_ "Still doesn't change that I wanted to be the first one." _

"But… I thought." Yu spoke up, confusion lacing his voice. He was interrupted again.

_ "It doesn't matter what you thought! The point is, you've been actin' all kinds of wrong. Been trying to hold it all on your shoulders. You need to allow your friends to also shoulder your burden! _ _ " _

Yu raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Yeah, because that will go  _ so _ over well! 'Hey Yosuke, sorry that I got you and Chie, and a buncha others you haven't met yet killed.' 'Hey Chie, think you can take the lead? I need to grieve over your death.'"

_ "That's not what I meant and you know it!" _

You've gotten a lot more expressive, Yu-kun, Sumeo-Okami stated, a small lilt in her voice.

"Having your only friends die in front of you does that," came his dry response. Kanji didn't take too kindly to that answer and moved to punch the TV Screen.

Kanji-kun, NO! Sumeo-Okami called, but it came too late, as once Kanji's fist hit the screen, the Midnight Channel Abruptly ended.

In a flash, the translucent Persona disappeared, and Yu was left alone with his self-hatred and confusion.

***April 31th, Sunday, Afternoon***

The Investigation Team was sitting around the Junes Food Court, an awkward silence surrounding the group. Hope, who didn't show up to school yesterday, had called everyone to meet up. Once they had all arrived, the Velvet Fool stood up abruptly and bowed to the assembled four Persona Users.

**_"Please forgive my actions the other day, Yu-sama, Chie-chan. I am terribly sorry for any embarrassment I had caused you!"_ **

Chie was the first to respond to the outburst. "W-whoa! Hey, don't worry about it Hope-kun! I was more worried than anything…"

**_"I apologize for worrying you then, Chie-chan."_ ** He bowed once again, and fell backwards as the Chariot pushed his head, gently enough for it to not hurt, but enough for him to be moved.

"It's just Chie, dummy," she said with a smile, and everyone laughed lightly, relieved that the tension was over. Yu spoke up once the laughter died down.

"That's not the sole reason why you called us here. Let's go on in and get some training done." Hope nodded to the order, and got up.

**_"Got it!"_** And with a smile, they followed him into the TV.

Inside the T.V. world, the group met up with Teddie, and began their training plan session. "All right, so if I remember correctly, from the conversation that Hope had with Konohana Sakuya, Yukiko-san can use Agi and Dia. So from my experience, it's best if the Mages are in the center. Yukiko-san, you are the White Mage, Hope, your the Black Mage. Chie, you get behind and the right of Hope. Yosuke, to the back and left of Yukiko-san. I'll take the front. We're going back to the castle, so lead the way Teddie," Yu instructed, and the triangle formation made their way to the castle. Yosuke spoke up as a way to kill the time.

"So, if Hope is the Black Mage, and Yukiko is the White Mage, what are me, you and Chie?" Without even hesitating, Yu gave his answer.

"In that Order, still using RPG classifications, Ninja, Hero, Glass Cannon." The Fool sped up slightly and looked down as he continued to follow Teddie. Yosuke groaned in response.

"Why do you get to be the Hero!?" But Yu didn't respond.

He was too busy reliving the past to hear him.

**_*December 1st, Thursday, After School*_ **

_ The Samegawa Riverbed was quiet, only two teens taking up space in the empty area. "Yo Yu, you ever think that sometimes our life is like a video game? I mean, we can summon beings of immense power, fight different kinds of monsters." Yosuke trailed off, waiting for an answer. _

_ Yu was silent, before answering his Partner. "I think so. Like an RPG." Yosuke perked up at that, a small smile on his face. _

_ "Oh really? Like with classes and stuff?" The Fool nodded. _

_ "Yeah. Like… Naoto, she's our black mage. She's got  _ **_Agidyne, Bufudyne, Garudyne, Ziodyne, Hamaon, Mudoon_ ** _ and even  _ **_Megidolaon_ ** _. Her Endurance isn't the best, as like with Mages, but she can handle any weakness that one of the Shadow's might have. With her  _ **_Mind Charge_ ** _ , she's practically unstoppable! Teddie would be a cleric I think, with his multitude of status affecting abilities. Skill-wise, that's his only definable attribute. And that feels kinda bad to say it out loud. _

_ "Kanji, he's our Wall or Tank. His Endurance is outrageous, I'm sure he could handle getting shot a few times, and still be ready to roll. Sure he isn't the fastest, but he can sure as hell give and take a beating. On the opposite side of Naoto, Yukiko is our White Mage, with her massive healing abilities. With her  _ **_Maragidyne_ ** _ , she's not completely defenseless either. Glass cannon would definitely be Chie. She's super deadly with her legs, but she's not as strong as either Kanji, you, or myself. _

_ "Yosuke, I think you would most likely be a Ninja class, because of your quick speed, especially under a  _ **_Sukukaja_ ** _. That, and your weapons of choice." The Magician laughed loudly at that. Yu joined him, and the two friends enjoyed the atmosphere together. Yosuke spoke after a while. _

_ "What about you, Partner? Main Character status for you?" Yu turned his head to look at Yosuke. _

_ "What makes you say that?" _

_ A pause. "You're kidding me right? You're the only one among us that can use multiple Personas. With that, you can be the White Mage, the Black Mage, the Tank, the Wall, the Cleric, the Ninja, the Glass Cannon, the Mob Sweeper, the Boss killer, all with a single flip of your personality. You could be the Ultimate class, or the most basic class. You could be a Slime, or the Super Secret Final Boss." Yu was embarrassed by the praise, but before he could stop Yosuke, he continued, "But you don't ever  _ _ want _ _ to be. You want everyone to be able to be the best they can be, and they can't do that if you're taking their spot. You don't wanna be the Ultimate Super Secret Boss, you just wanna be a Hero. You want to be what we need you to be. And that makes you a bigger man than I could ever be and that's… really cool." _

**_"Rank Up! Thy bond is strengthened by the hopes you both hold for the future. The Magician will now die for you."_ **

Yu continued to lead the group until they reached the castle, where Teddie spoke up. "There seems to be a beary strong Shadow at the top!" Already suspecting this, Yu turned his attention to the party.

"Okay, now, you should know Yukiko-san and Hope, this will not be good and easy. These things will do everything in their power to kill you. We have to work together if we want to survive. Teddie, can you tell if Hope has an elemental weakness?" The bear in question walked up to the Velvet Fool and began sniffing.

"I can't tell anything. Sorry, Sensei." Teddie pouted, feeling down.

"Don't worry about it Teddie," Yu replied. "So Hope, I'm sorry, but we should test it. It's better for us if we do this in a more controlled environment than against the shadows themselves." Everyone looked shocked at his order.

**_"I understand. Got anything to heal me from the wounds you're about to inflict on me?"_ ** Hope asked, adding to the shock of the Magician, Chariot, and Priestess.

"I have some healing items, and if I remember correctly from the conversation me and the group had, both Yosuke and Yukiko-san have Dia. Yosuke, we will start with you." Yosuke nodded.

"Sorry Hope." The headphone-wearing teen said before flipping and summoning his Persona. "JIRAYA!  **GARU** !" The Ninja Frog Persona appeared in a burst of light, and a small green tornado formed around the Velvet Fool.

Hope braced himself, and while he did flinch, he took little damage: only a cut on his arm from the sharp wind.  **_"Hurts, but it's not too bad. Send a Dia my way, 'kay Yosuke?"_ ** The Magician nodded and did so. Yukiko went next and pulled out a bladed fan.

"I'm sorry Hope. I won't hold back though! KONOHANA-SAKUYA!  **AGI** !" Flames enveloped the boy, and Hope let out a sharp cry in pain. Yukiko immediately healed the boy.

**_"Gah! Fire... Bad,"_ ** the Amnesiac groaned. Chie stepped up and stretched her legs.

"Ready?" Hope shook his head 'No', but got ready anyway. Chie leaped into the air and smashed her Persona card, summoning Tomoe. "TOMOE!  **BUFU** !" Hope braced himself, and as soon as the ice magic touched him, he collapsed.

"Shit!" Yu sprinted over to the unconscious boy, pulling out a Bead and shoving it in his mouth. Within seconds, Hope sat up, blinking his eyes in confusion.

**_"Weak to Ice?"_ ** he managed to ask.

"Weak to Ice," Yu answered. "One more to go." Hope sighed in defeat, before standing up and spreading his arms out, eyes shut tight.

**_"Hit me with your best shot!"_** Yu summoned Izanagi's Persona card and crushed it in his hand. The Father of Japan summoned a bolt of Lightning. Everyone winced when it slammed into Hope but were surprised when nothing happened. Hope continued to stand there, seemingly untouched. **_"What are you waiting for? Hit me!"_**

"We did. Direct hit," Yosuke spoke up, awe in his voice. "And you shrugged it off like it was nothing!" Yu nodded his head thoughtfully.

"Teddie, were you keeping track?"

"Yeah! Hope is resistant to  **Wind/Garu** skills, weak to  **Ice/Bufu** skills, and completely immune to **Lightning/Zio** skills.  **Fire/Agi** skills affect him normally." The Bear responded to Yu's question.

Hope moved closer to the group, now that he was done with the ‘Testing’  **** **_"So now it's Yukiko's turn, right?"_ ** the Fool responded as Yukiko looked slightly worried.

"That won't be the case for her. The main reason we did it for you, Hope, is because you can use all kinds of magic. In our magic terms, you can use  **Agi, Bufu, Garu** , and **Zio** . With Izanagi, I primarily use  **Zio** , and my weakness is  **Garu** while inversely, Yosuke uses  **Garu** , and his weakness is  **Zio** . Chie has  **Bufu** , weak to **Agi** . Using that logic, Yukiko, who uses  **Ag** i, is weak to  **Bufu** . But-again using the same logic-since you use all four of them, you would be resistant to all of them or weak to all of them. Thus, we had to test your strengths and weaknesses." The explanation was sound, and Hope's expression was one of defeat.

**_"Form up then?"_ **

"Form up." A soft whine came from the Velvet Fool, and once everyone was back in the Triangle Formation, the five moved into the castle.

_ This place feels… wrong,  _ was Hope's first thought of the Castle. Every window was cracked, and the walls were coated in ice. He subconsciously flexed his hands, ready to call upon the magic inside him at anytime. The Velvet Fool saw their leader stiffen up slightly, and he ordered them to group together.

"Something's wrong. Yukiko, Hope stay close to together. Chie, Yosuke, on guard." In a flash, Yu unsheathed his Blazefire Sabre in it's gun mode and cautiously moved forward. After a single step, there was shrill laughter-eerily similar to Yukiko's, Hope noted-and a gas-like sphere with a mask shot forward from the fog ahead of them. In a flash, Yu fired off a shot at the Shadow, only for it to absorb the bullet of energy. "What!? It can't be… a Rainy Sister!? They're only supposed to show up on rainy days!" The Rainy Sister charged the group, glowing a faint blue for just a moment before a large chunk of Ice flew towards the group. Hope saw the bullet coming and grabbed Yukiko in a tackle to prevent them both from being hit from the Bufudyne.

**_"Shit… Yu! It's weak to Agi right? From what you said earlier?"_** Yu didn't seem to hear him though, as he seemed frozen in fear. _Why isn't he moving? Damn it, leader!_ Yosuke and Chie were trying everything they could to fight back against the Shadow that was doing everything in its power to attack the Priestess and Velvet Fool. _Damn it, think think think. What was that spell I just remembered?_ ** _Haste?_** Suddenly, time seemed to stop as Hope was drawn into his mind. He saw himself standing in a pose before throwing his hands out in an attempt to stop something from reaching him. Hope quickly got up and mimicked the stance, throwing his arms out and calling out the spell's name. **_"Haste!"_** The Synergist was enveloped in an orange light as the spell took effect, and the world around him seemed to slow immensely. He saw Yosuke's head turn to him in super slow motion, as a second Bufudyne seemed to crawl to him and Yukiko. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chie try to move to stand in between the oncoming attack and her two friends. Hope stood up and gently pulled Chie out of the way of the blast.

He pulled his arm back and a light red orb appeared in his hand.  **_"Fire."_ ** With the simple command, he launched the fireball into the giant block of magical ice. He continued to launch the magical fire until the ice was completely gone. Hope pulled back his arm again, and as soon as he let the spell go, time resumed to normal from him, and he was barraged by the sounds of his teammates' voices.

"W-what?"

"YUKIKO!"

"YUKIKO!"

"Oh crap!"

It took everyone a second to realize that something had happened, with the Shadow's death cry finalizing the battle's end. The fact that both Hope and Yukiko were fully conscious and Hope was still in a battle stance. Yukiko was the first to speak up. "Hope? Was… was that beam of fire you?"

The Velvet Fool tilted his head slightly in confusion.  **_"What do you mean 'beam of fire'?"_ ** Yosuke answered the other teen.

"After you said 'Haste' there was a beam of fire that assaulted the Shadow for maybe five seconds, and then the Shadow died. Whatever you did, that was AWESOME!" Hope's eyes widened in understanding.

**_"I see. To me, it felt like thirty seconds of chunking Fires at it, but for you guys, the fireballs were going at such as speed that it seemed like a beam."_** There was a thud and they all turned to see Yu collapse to the ground, seemingly barely able to keep himself from falling all the way. Hope could hear faint heaving, as if Yu was trying to prevent himself from puking. The Amnesiac quickly went to the downed boy, gently rubbing his back, trying to soothe him. Faint sobbing reached his ears, and he could barely make out the words 'failed' and 'again', his body shaking uncontrollably. **_"Yu? Buddy? Breathe for me okay? Yukiko, do you have anything that can cure status effects?"_** The Priestess seemed to pause for a minute before summoning her elegant Persona.

" **Me Patra!** " With the command said, the entire party was bathed in a silver light. Almost instantaneously, the trembling stopped. The boy slowly staggered to his feet, his hair covering his face.

"T-thanks Yukiko. I must have missed when the Shadow cast its spell. H-Hope, come over here for a moment, strategy meeting." Yu's voice was cracking and if anyone had any objections, she kept it to herself [or him to himself]. The two Fools huddled together and began to talk.

**_"Yu, talk to me, what happened? We both know you weren't hit by a spell."_** Yu looked to the group again, before making eye contact with Hope.

"You… you remember about what happened to me, right?" At Hope's nod, he continued. "W-well, on that… day, the Shadow you just fought was… the kind that killed Yukiko." Hope's eyes widened as Yu continued. "And… and I couldn't do anything! They absorb everything but  **fire** , so I was useless! I couldn't do anything! Again!" The distraught Fool quickly turned and slammed his fist into the wall. "Damn it!" The self-hatred radiated off of the boy.

**_"Yu…"_** _What can I do for him? At this point only Yukiko and I can attack them, and even then, we are the only ones weak to them! Think Hope, what spells do you have?_ ** _Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, Protect, En-Frost, En-Spark, En-Aero, En-Fire_** _, and_ ** _Hast_** _-_ ** _EN-FIRE_** _! Duh!_ _"_ ** _I got it!_** **_En-Fire_** _!"_ The Velvet Fool created a light red orb and gripped it tightly in his hand. **_"Give me your weapon."_** Yu turned around, slightly confused and curious as he handed the Blazefire Saber to Hope. He brought the orb to touch the blade, and almost instantaneously the blade erupted into a flame. **_"Now you won't be so 'useless',"_** Hope joked as he handed the weapon back to the other Fool. He quickly moved over to Yosuke and did the same to his Kunai. The Velvet Fool paused as he approached Chie. **_"Um… how do you wanna do this Chie?"_**

The Kung-Fu lover tilted her head slightly in confusion. "What do you mean?"

**_"Um well… your weapons are your grieves right? Well, if I move down there, I'd be… well… near a very 'intimate' place… and as a woman, it'd be pretty inappropriate for me to be near such a place on your body."_** His face was flushed as his embarrassment got to him. Almost immediately as he made eye contact with her, he saw her own embarrassment, and what he thought was joy. In a flash, time stopped. A loud crash sounded, as light faded all around him.

**"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a genuine bond... The innermost power of the Chariot Arcana has been set free. Remember who you are, and Victory will be at hand. Gather your Will power… And Victory will be yours. Ruin your enemies, young Hope."**

Time resumed and Chie spoke up. "T-thanks Hope… Um… Oh! What if I put my legs on the wall? That way you won't have to worry about seeing anything!" Her smiling demeanour was infectious as Hope joined in and enhanced the weapons on her legs.

_Alright! Time for us to get going!_ **_"I'm not sure how long this will last so let's get moving."_** With a nod from their leader, they all moved in unison throughout the castle.

The Investigation Team continued to climb up through the tower, the only member truly on edge being Yu, who quickly decimated any Shadows that attacked them from the front. He was ruthless in his assault, cleaving the Rainy Sisters in half whenever they got close, shooting others whenever they came into view. The Fool was seething in rage, and with every shadow that appeared, and anger seemed to intensify.

The Magician stepped closer to the Velvet Fool. "Psst… Hey Hope." The platinum blond looked back to the music loving teen.

**_"Yeah, Yosuke?"_ **

"What's up with Yu? He seems… more angry than usual." Hope sighed before glancing at Chie and Yukiko who just finished off a shadow coming towards them.

**_"How much do you know about him?"_ **

"You mean his past?" At Hope's nod, Yosuke continued. "He told me that he worked with a team before… and that they all died from Shadows."

**_"That's right. Not only that, but those Shadows that have been attacking us? They were responsible for one of their deaths."_ ** Yosuke paled at the implications.

"So… the reason he's been like that…"

**_"Has been because Yukiko, who has extreme similarities with his old teammate, was almost murdered by the exact same thing that killed that teammate. These shadows are only weak to Fire, and they absorb all the other elements, including physical attacks. That's why I buffed all your weapons, so that we all can fight them, and not just me and Yukiko."_ **

"Shit… That's some heavy stuff. No wonder he's destroying all these Shadows without mercy."

**_"Well once we beat this big Shadow upstairs that Teddie was talking about, we'll get the hell outta here."_ ** Yosuke nodded as they continued walking together.

"Still, I wonder why the Shadows here are different than last time."

**_"This place is as much a mystery to me as it is to you."_ **

Soon enough they reached the top of the Castle, and the doors that once contained Yukiko and her Shadow were before them. Yu pushed open the doors, and the team readied themselves as they faced… an empty room.

"Teddie, are you sure you smelt a Shadow here?" Yosuke asked. Yu, however, answered instead.

"On your guard. It could be anywhere…" Silently, the group made their way into the center of the room, and once they reached it, the doors slammed shut and a loud roar filled the throne room.

**_"Protect!"_ ** the magic spell took them all by surprise as Hope buffed the party's physical defense. Once everyone was buffed, Hope tensed as a massive shape fell from the ceiling.

"What is THAT?!" Chie called out, stepping back in fear at the gargantuan beast.

**_"A… A Behemoth… Humbaba class. SHIT!"_ ** Everyone turned to look at Hope, surprise and worry on his face.  **_"We have to use fire still. Yosuke, Yukiko on me! Yu, Chie, attack it from the sides!"_ ** They hesitated, causing Hope to shout at them.  **_"NOW DAMN IT! Do you WANT to die!?"_ **

The Fool and Chariot moved to their designated locations, as the Magician and Priestess moved closer to the Velvet Fool. "What do we do?" Yosuke asked, kunais at the ready. Yukiko stepped next to Hope.

"Give us your orders, Vice Leader!" The doom and fear that Hope felt while facing the Humbaba was pushed aside.

**_"We are gonna make a tornado of death."_ **

***Flashback***

An **Aero** spell blew Hope back from the behemoth as Lightning returned to his side. "Ho… ope! Hope! HOPE!" His vision slowly came back to him, seeing his pink-haired Savior holding him up, her hand glowing a soft green.

"L-Light?" He could have sworn her eyes seemed to be really wet, but he ignored it. His eyes widened. "M-my arm… It took my arm…" Light gently patted his head.

"You're going to be okay Hope. I've stitched it back on and  **Regen** is healing it up. Think you can keep up the fight once you're healed?" He subconsciously rolled his arm, feeling relief at the weight of it being there.

"What abou-"

"She's distracting it. I had to be able to heal you somehow right?" Her dry humor was much needed, as he laughed. He wrapped his good arm around her, ignoring her tensing form.

"Thank you, Light." The **Ravager** slowly stood up as he started buffing the three of them. "I got an idea. You can use **Aeroga** right?"

"That and  **Thundaga** ," the Soldier replied.

"Good. Use  **Aeroga** first. Then keep switching between that and  **Thundaga** . Don't let up until it's dead." Light gave a salute before calling out to their other ally.

"FANG! MOVE!" The Commando leaped away from the Behemoth and as soon as she was a good distance away from the dreaded beast, a large tornado surrounding the beast. Hope followed up with his own spells.

**"Firaga! Fira! Fire!"** The flames morphed into the tornado becoming a giant tornado of fire, enveloping the Humbaba in its flames. Fang seemed to pick up on the plan, throwing in her own Fire and Aero spells into the mix. Light threw in her Thundaga, adding lightning to the mix. Loud roars sounded from the giant behemoth as the flames ravaged it's body from every side.

In its last ditch attempt to eat its rebellious prey, the Humbaba soared out of the dying tornado, roaring at the young boy. Hope raised his hand and the aura surrounding him turned red.

**"Ruinga!"** The gray spell went directly into the behemoth's wide mouth, and almost instantly, the beast exploded with a loud BOOM! Victory was his.

He threw up his fist in a cheer, as exhaustion took over him.

***End Flashback***

**_"Yosuke! Garu like your life depends on it, cause it does! Yukiko! The same with Agi! Aim for its face!"_** The two nodded and went to work, with the sounds of Persona Summoning going off all around him. Hope brought his arms in gathering energy around him, before forcing it outside of him. **_"HASTE!"_** An orange glow appeared around him, and everything around him slowed down. Hope ran towards the behemoth, flinging **Fire** spells as he ran. Upon reaching the behemoth, he climbed on to the beast's rising arm that was most likely intended to hit him, and maneuvered his way to the head of the beast. He kept launching spell after spell into the Humbaba's mouth before jumping off as he spotted Yosuke's and Yukiko's spells head over to the beast in slow motion. As soon as he hit the ground, the spell faded and time resumed to its regular speed. He heard the roaring behind him as the beast was enveloped in a small flaming tornado. Chie backed away from the spell fire as Yu switched to Sumeo-Okami and continued to attack the beast. The Velvet Fool dodged away from the behemoth's angry claws. Thinking quickly, he cast **En-Frost** on one of his shoes, and started skating around the burning beast. Hope continued to throw **Fire** spells at the beast until he saw the beast charge towards Yukiko and Yosuke. However, in a flash, a cyclone of fire surrounded the Humbaba.

As the beast charged forward towards his friends, time seemed to almost slow around Yu. He could see the aftermath already if he didn't do anything.

"NO!" Chie would cry as she fell to her knees, defeat and tears looming in her eyes. "Y-YUKIKO!" Half of the mangled corpse of the Priestess would fall out of the beast's mouth as it turned its sights on Yosuke, who would be pinned underneath its massive claw. Hope would still be vainly be trying to assault the beast as he stood there, utterly defeated and useless once again.

Do you truly wish for your friends to die again?

Izanagi's calm voice brought Yu out of his depressing and morbid thoughts.  _ No… I must do something! I REFUSE TO BE USELESS AGAIN! _

The Fool's despair was quickly replaced with rage as he saw red.

**"MARAGIDYNE!"**

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Yu stagger over and brace himself with Blazefire Sabre. **_"Nice one, Yu-sama!"_** Hope skated over to Chie who was the closest to him. **_"You all right? Didn't get hurt?"_** The Chariot nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can't believe we took that down!" She laughed and Hope joined with a small chuckle. However, it vanished when a loud roar was heard from the flames.

**_"Oh no… I forgot again! Shit! Chie quick, get Tomoe to throw me above the flames!"_ ** With a look of confusion and panic, she hesitantly summoned her Persona.

"You heard him Tomoe! Toss him above the flames!" With a nod, the Persona grabbed the Velvet Fool in her hands and picked him up.

I'm sorry about this, lord Estheim.

**_"It's fine Tomoe-san. Quickly!"_** And with the command, Tomoe reeled back and chunked the Amnesiac towards the flames. Halfway to his destination, the flames died out, and the Humbaba stood up on its back legs. It gave a mighty roar as it reached behind it to pull out its giant sword. Hope slammed into the back of the beast's head, making it fall forward from the sudden force applied on its upper body. While it was dazed, Hope climbed to its snout, and forced the Humbaba's mouth open. **_"RUIN!"_** With the cry, a small grey orb shot out of the Ravager's palm. A second passed before a soft boom sounded in the behemoth's stomach. **_"RUIN! RUIN! RUIN!"_** With each cry, the destruction orbs shot straight into the beast. The beast fell backwards, and gave a pitiful whine as it's life force faded away.

Its body slowly turned black, and then banished in a cloud of black and red as he had seen many Shadow's do on his way up here. "Did… Did we do it?" came Yukiko's voice from behind him. Hope nodded, breathing heavily.

"I can't believe we took that down!" Yosuke spoke up, jumping for joy.

**_"It wasn't a question of can or can't, Yosuke…"_ ** Hope called back to him.  **_"Some things in life you just… do."_ ** With his piece said, Hope fell backwards on his butt and promptly blacked out.


	15. Aeon Bonds

***May 1st, Monday, After School***

After School, Yu found himself with Marie at Souzai Daigaku. “How are you, Marie?”

“ Phew, I can finally breathe now. It's stuffy in that car. Y'know... I feel weird. It's like... nostalgic, for the smell and all.” 

The Fool nodded in acknowledgement. “Probably because it's the countryside.” Marie closed her eyes in thought, crossing her arms to wrap around her torso.

“Is that why? The ‘countryside’ causes me to feel nostalgic? Hmm…” The Aeon soon opened her eyes and looked at the display counter. “There's a lot of stuff that I've never noticed before. A ‘Steak Skewer’? Hey, lady. I want one of those skewer things.” The Owner jumped up at being called and moved to stand at the other side of the counter.

“Oh, hello! That'll be 320 yen, please.”

Marie made a face. “Thwee hunnert twin... Bleh. That's hard to say. ...You can't eat without money?” She asked, looking at Yu. He nodded in response.

“ Do you want me to pay for it?” Marie’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You have money!? ...That's awesome. You're awesome.” As Yu reached to get his wallet out to pay for the Skewers, a voice came up from behind them.

“Yo, Yu! Gettin' your steak on, huh?” Yu and Marie both turned around to see Yosuke, standing there with his arms behind his head. He did seem to drop his arms in shock. “...She's cute. What? What's going on here? Who's this!?”

_Oh. It’s just Yosuke being Yosuke. I got worried for a second._ “She's a friend.”  
Marie seemed conflicted. “Friend...? I guess... I don't know.”  
“Ahh, I see. A ‘friend,’ you say, huh?”Yosuke gave Yu a knowing look which Yu dutifully ignored. “Oh yeah, I'm Yosuke Hanamura! I'm his friend. His partner, y'know.”  
“...Partner? You mean like a close friend?” Marie’s confusion didn’t seem to ease up.  
Yosuke’s face flushed a light read in embarrassment as he nodded in affirmation. “Heheh, that about sums it up. Er, what's your name?”   
“Huh...? Uh... Marie.” Yosuke seemed silent for a moment, inspecting both Yu and Marie.  
“Hmmm, Marie-chan, is it? You want a steak skewer? All right, this one's on me!”  
_Can you afford that Yosuke?_ “...You mean you'll buy it for me?...Is that okay?” The girl asked Yu, curiosity and worry in her voice.

Yu shrugged, glancing at Marie.“There's no reason to decline his offer.”

Yosuke seemed to catch on to their skepticalness. “Hey, don't worry! I got a little extra in my last paycheck,” He quickly moved past the two and before they could interrupt him, ordered. “Three steak skewers, please! One for each of us.”  
The Owner’s genuine smile grew.“Oh my, business is booming! Just a moment, please.” They sat all sat at the only table next to the store, and waited until the owner called out for Yosuke. The teens all sat and ate together in comfortable silence, the only noise being birds chirping and them eating the steak skewers. _Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve had these. When_ _was_ _the last time I ate here? Was it with Yosuke in November?_ Yu was snapped out of his thoughts by Yosuke.  
“Whew! Is that a bellyful or what! This place always has huge portions. So, Marie-chan, what d'you think of the local specialty?” The girl in question looked lost in thought before staring Yosuke in the eye.  
“It's really weird. It's tough, hard to bite into, and it got cold while I was still eating it. It was delicious.” _That’s… one way to put it._   
Yosuke seemed just as shell-shocked as Yu.“Oh, uh... That's good. ...Didn't sound like you liked it at the beginning there. But, all's well that ends well!”  
Marie looked over to Yu, which at this point he figured it meant she had a question. “Hey, why's it called ‘steak,’ anyway? Is it short for something?” 

“Well, it's short for 'Beefsteak’.” He explained.

“’Beefsteak’? Huh…” The Aeon furrowed her brow in thought.” But if you drop the word ‘beef’ from it, you don't get any sense of what it's made of. It should be, like... ‘Fsteak.’”

_Oh my Izanagi, she’s adorable._  
Yosuke seemed to have the same feeling as Yu. “That's, uh... not much better… Marie-chan's a strange kid, huh? Well, that makes her cute... I guess?” Kind of the same feeling as Yu. 

“You eat this every day? ...No fair. I should've come earlier…” _It seems Marie has taken a liking to Steak Skewers, judging from the smile on her face._ __  
Suddenly Yosuke shot up. “Ah, crap! I left my key back in my locker at work! I've gotta go back to Junes! See you later, Yu! You too, Marie-chan!” and with that, the Magician sprinted off to Junes.  
It was dead silent for five seconds, until Marie looked over to Yu, smile still there.“...Your ‘partner’ is a funny person.”

“That he is.”

“Hm… But he brought me meat. That makes him a good person. That is fact. Hey, let's go somewhere else. Somewhere with a nice view.” Yu chuckled and stood up along with Marie. 

“All right, you want one for the trip there?”

“... can I?” Yu nodded. “Yes please!” The Fool just laughed.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they finally reached the hill overlooking town. After several times in which Yu lost Marie the moment he took his eyes off of her, Yu managed to bring her here. Marie looked around, taking in the area for the first time.

“Hmmm... It's really green here. Green and... green. And some brown and... Darker green?” Yu chuckled at her description as he leaned against a wooden fence, most likely used to keep kids from getting hurt. _Marie looks like she’s enjoying the atmosphere._  
“Leaves of green fly away, Farewell to you, clouds of the sky… I fly as well, lost as the day, Farewell to you, moon of the night.” _Marie is murmuring something to herself... Whatever it is, it rhymes…_ Yu glanced over to Marie, gazing at her with a serene look upon her face. She noticed him looking over and the mood changed instantly.  
“N-No! I-I-I wasn't making up a poem!It's just some words that I was thinking! That's all! Yeah! ...ShutupIhateyouyoustupidjerk! D-Don't snoop on me!” _Marie is blushing… so it_ _was_ _a poem._ “Wow, it's pretty big… I don't know why... but I feel good about this place. It reminds me of something.” _Judging from the quick change in topic, it was indeed, a poem._ _  
_ Marie was silent for a while, her eyes closed as the wind flows against her. Yu joined her in the silence. It was tranquil, and he felt at peace for the first time in a long time. _Just Marie, Nature, and myself._

“Are there any other places we can go? I want to see more,” came the Aeon’s voice.

“Yeah, I'll show you around,” was the Fool’s response.  
“Please do. I notice a lot of things when I'm with you. It's pretty fun!” _It seems that Marie expects something of me now… I think I understand her better too._ Yu waited for the Social Link voice to say that the rank leveled up like he had come to suspect, but to his surprise, it never came.

“All right, next! Where to now?” Marie’s excited demeanor shook him out of his thoughts, and he smiled back at her. 

“Well, considering it’s the biggest place around here, I’ll show you to Junes.”

She tilted her head. “That’s where your ‘partner’ works, right?”

“Nice job! Now let’s get going Marie.”

* * *

For some reason, Marie drug Yu into the Electronics department. “Hey, what happened just now? A ‘Time sale’...? Everyone was rushing to grab something called ‘sallah drezzing’? Whatever it is, it must be worth fighting for.” Yu nodded unsurely.

“I’m sure some people would probably fight for it.” A different familiar voice cut off any continuing conversation.  
“Hey, Yu-kun! What a coincidence! What are you doin' here? Who's this girl? She's so cute.” Chie asked, checking out Marie.

“This is Marie.” Yu answered.  
“Huh? Oh, yeah…” At her name, she shook slightly, as if she was in a trance and deep in thought.  Marie looked at Chie perplexedly  
“Marie-chan, huh? Ooh, that's a nice name… Oh, I'm Chie Satonaka. Nice to meet you!” Marie nodded with a small smile to show her agreement before turning to the wall of display TVs.  
“Okay…I know what this is. It shows a lot of stuff.”  
Chie stood on the opposite side of Marie. “Oh, you came to look at the TVs, too? Yeah, I want one, too. We still haven't replaced our old one.”  
“I-I don't want one! I don't, but… Maybe... Can you turn it to "StarScandalz"?”

Yu tilted his head in confusion. “What kind of show is that...?”  
“Huh? It's, like... One of those shows, right? The ones where they're all like ‘blah de blah de blah.’ Everybody watches it. Margaret told me that.” For some reason, Marie seems proud. _Probably because she knew something I didn’t. Oh well. Good for her._ “So, how do you watch it?”

As Yu was about to explain to Marie how exactly a TV works, Chie interrupted.“Huh!? Are you one of those people who doesn't watch TV!?”  
“There isn't one in the room,” was the simple answer.  
“Really!? Wow... You must have super-strict parents.Girl, I don't think I could stand it. Life without kung fu movies… Brr!” The Chariot shivered and seemed genuinely discomforted by the thought.  
“Oh... But there's no ‘eclectic loutwits’ in that room. I'll tell The Nose to install one of those ‘eclectic loutwits.’ There's nothing to do in there!” With a determined nod, Marie walked out of the Electronics Department.  
“Hey, wait, Marie-chan!?...You don't even have electricity in your room!?”  


* * *

  
Yu came with Marie and Chie to the Junes Food Court.

“Whew, that was the good stuff. Satisfaction! I haven't had the steak here in a while, but it really isn't all that bad. Marie-chan, you haven't eaten at all,” Chie managed through a bite of grilled steak. “You, too, Yu-kun. You've gotta eat if you want to grow up big and strong. Just kidding, haha!”  
Marie looked up from her steak. “You eat too fast. You're gonna be fat one day.”  
Chie winced. “I didn't need to hear that! Uh... I'll go get us some drinks! ...O-Oolong tea sounds good.” And in a flash, Chie stood up and moved to go get them said beverages.  
“...There's a lot of people at this "Joo-nes" place. Why? Don't they have anything else to do? If they have TVs, they should be watching them instead of wasting time here.” Before Yu could reprimand Marie for her words, her attention was drawn by a passing by family.  
“Mommy, I'm thirsty! I wanna soda!” came the child’s voice.  
“No. You just had one. You'll have to wait.” Was the mother’s reply.  
The child stamped their foot. “I wannit, I wannit!”   
The mother was calm however. “I said no. You'll rot your teeth.”  
Marie continued to watch the mother and son, before turning to Yu. “Hey... Do you think I was ever like that?”

Closing his eyes in thought, Yu responded, “You mean that young? Logically speaking, you would have to have grown the body you have now. But if you mean acting like that? I’d hope not, he did seem like he has quite a temper on him.” Opening his eyes to look at Marie, he saw tears forming in her eyes.

“...I don't remember anything. I was just walking... I had nowhere to go, and I just ended up in that car. Then Margaret told me to stay there. She also gave me the name ‘Marie’... She said ‘It'd be hard to get around without a name’.”

“A part of me wants to say, ‘that must be rough’.”  
“I don't know. I can't even remember if it was tough. That's okay... It's not like it's troubling me or anything.” Despite her casual words, Marie has a concerned expression. “But... I don't know why, but this town is familiar to me.”

“Hmm… Do you remember anything else?”

Marie shook her head. “...I don't know. The only thing I remember--or more like "know"--is that this is mine”The Aeon stood up and reached into her bag. When she pulled out her hand, old bamboo comb was in her hand. “I’ve had this from the start. This is definitely mine. But... so what? This doesn't help anything…”  
_Marie confided in me with her memory. I feel like our relationship has grown deeper._

“ ** _Rank up! Your bond has grown as you understand the struggles one not of man faces. The Aeon will become closer to you!”_**  
Time resumed once again, as Marie spoke up. “...You're searching for the ‘Truth,’ right...?...You should stop. There's no such thing…” While her words seemed harsh, her tone suggested otherwise. _Perhaps concern?_ “This conversation's boring. Let's talk about something else.” As Marie requested, their distraction from their conversation came in the form of Chie returning.

“Sorry to keep you waiting! The shop was busy, so I just ordered and came back here. They'll bring it to us when it's ready. Uhh... Is it me, or is the mood a bit heavy around here? D-Don't worry, you two! I ordered for all of us! ...Oolong tea for everybody!” Yu let out a laugh at Chie’s antics and after talking with Marie and Chie, Yu escorted Marie back to the Velvet Room.

 

* * *

 

***Monday, May 1st, Evening***

Yu walked in the Dojima residence and was greeted with a, “Welcome home, Big Bro!”

“Nanako! Did you have a good day of school?” he replied as he slipped off his shoes and walked into the living room. She nodded and gave a huge smile.

“Yeah!” and then began telling a story of her day, as Yu listened and asked questions when necessary to get the full picture. The Justice Arcana estatically finished her story as Yu finished making dinner.

It was a well-simmered beef stew, which he would have leftovers for tomorrow. He slid a bowl in front of Nanako, who looked shocked at the size of her portion. “C-can I really have all this?” She asked.

Yu responded with, “I dunno… can you? Only big girls eat all their food…” he let the sentence hang in the air as he saw a glint of determination enter her eyes.

“Of course I can!” And she began to attack the bowl in an effort to prove her maturity. Yu chuckled as he calmly ate his own bowl. Later on, Nanako, who ate too fast, was unable to finish her giant bowl, while Yu pulled her bowl over and finished up for her.

“No fair… You put too much on purpose!” She pouted and pointed accusingly at him.

“I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t go hungry tonight.” Yu responded with a smile.

That seemed to take away her annoyance at him. “Big bro… are some people not able to eat dinner?” All of the wind had left her sails.  _ Shit… _

“Yeah, unfortunately some people can’t afford to eat dinner every night. Some people just don’t make enough money to feed their family. Some people just don’t have a job.” Nanako thought for a bit.

“Well… why don’t they get a job then?” She asked.

“Well it’s not that simple. Some people try and try, and just keep getting denied. Some jobs require job experience, and they can’t get job experience because jobs need job experience. And it’s not really fair.”

Nanako nodded her head. “Yeah, it’s not…”

“Unfortunately Nanako, there’s not a whole lot we can do. This world runs on money…”

She seemed sad before she seemed to reach an epiphany. “Is that why Dad works all the time?”

“That's probably some factor of it, yeah.” Nanako seemed to understand. The night endly softly and without event.


	16. Golden Week

***May 3rd, Tuesday, Constitution day, Early Morning***

 

_ I hope Nanako was able to sleep okay… _ Last night, Ryotaro called them to let them know he wouldn’t be able to take them on a trip. Since a criminal stole all of the money in a Inaba Credit Union ATM - Including the ATM itself! - he was pulling all nighters at the Police Station. Nanako didn’t take the news well.

As Yu descended the stairs, he saw Nanako watching TV. “Good Morning.” Came her empty greeting. Before he could respond though, there was a knock on the door. Seeing as he was closer, he moved to open the door to reveal…

“Chie? Hope? What are you two doing here?”

**_“Early morning training!”_ **

“Yeah, Hope called and asked if I could give him a few pointers. We just wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to come with us? Since it’s Golden Week, we were gonna call the others and probably have a picnic at the Samegawa.” Chie replied with a sheepish smile. 

Nanako came up behind him, and spoke up. “Are you going to the picnic, big bro?”

**_“You should come too, Nanako-chan!”_ ** She seemed to be taken aback by the offer. Chie added her two cents in upon seeing Nanako.

“It wouldn’t be the same without you, Nanako-chan!” Yu crouched down to be at the same height as Nanako.

“Well, little sis? We probably are going to have to stop somewhere to get the picnic supplies. Somewhere like… Junes?”  _ Hook, line, and sinker. _

“R-really?! Okay! Let me turn off everything!” and in a flash, she was going back to the living room and her own room to make sure everything was off.

**_“She really likes Junes, huh?”_ ** Hope rhetorically asked. Yu turned to them both.

“Our family plans were canceled, so I think she’s more excited to do anything at this point.” Nanako quickly came back.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” And with that, and laughter from the teens, they all left the Dojima residence and headed towards Junes. Nanako skipped ahead with Chie, while Yu and Hope talked together.

**_“How are you feeling?”_ ** Hope asked the other Fool. Yu looked over to him with tired eyes.

“Exhausted.” Was all he said, and all he had to say. Hope simply nodded in acknowledgement.

**_“So I’ve been thinking.”_ **

“Oh no, guess I better go hide then.” Yu teased, and quickly dodged away from his friend’s fist. 

**_“Shut up.”_ ** Hope said with no venom in his voice.  **_“I was thinking. Has Nanako ever been Ice-Skating before?”_ ** Yu stopped walking.

_ “Let’s make a snowman big bro~!” “Ah, do you think it’s going to snow? I love the snow!” “B-big… bro…” _

Yu was shaken out of his thoughts by Nanako, who had skipped back to him. She had worry in her eyes and she gently tugged his hand. “Big bro?”

“Hm? Sorry Nanako, I was just… remembering something.” He started walking again, hand in hand with Nanako. Chie and Hope stayed a distance behind them.

**_“Damn it Yu…”_ ** came the distraught amnesiac.

The Chariot looked over to him. “Is he okay?” Hope shook his head.

**_“No. He isn’t. What all do you know about him, Chie-san?”_ ** Concern covered Chie’s face. 

“Not a whole lot. What’s wrong?”

Hope gave a sigh.  **_“I really wish he’d open up more,”_ ** He said quietly more to himself than to Chie.  **_“Don’t let him know that you know okay? He’ll tell you in his own time, but I’ll give you the rundown.”_ ** The Velvet Fool took a breath to prepare himself for the story.  **_“So, this whole business with Shadows? Yu’s done it before, and it didn’t end well. So, counting him, there were eight members on his team. Now? He’s the only one left alive. Half of them were killed by the Shadows. Two of them were put killed by their teammates, to put them out of their misery. The last was killed by a criminal psychopath. And Yu has had to bare that burden all alone. He hasn’t grieved properly. You know the stages right? Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.  He tried to just straight into Acceptance, the last step of grief, but that didn’t do much of anything for him. He’s already tried to deny it, but once he realised that people were in danger, he moved onto Anger. When we were last in the TV, you probably noticed that he got angry pretty easily, which is why I took up position as Vice Leader. The reason he got so Angry is because those Shadows that we saw, those specific types of Shadows were the ones that killed one of the members, whose role was exceedingly similar to Yukiko. In fact, they had the same weaknesses and strengths too. He was reliving that moment when he was useless to defend his teammate.”_ ** Hope finished his explanation, and turned to Chie, who had tears in her eyes.

“O-oh… poor Yu…” She was trying very hard to keep it together, but a tear fell out of her eye.

Hope stood closer and pulled her into a hug.  **_“He’ll be okay Chie. We just have to keep an eye on him. Can I count on you?_ ** **_”_ ** She nodded and broke out of the hug. An arm ran over her face to wipe away any tears over her face.

“I’ll do everything I can!” Chie announced to Hope. Time seemed to stop all around them, only Yu and Hope being unaffected.

**_Rank Up! Your bond with the Chariot: Renewed has gotten stronger through your bond with the Fool: Renewed. The Chariot has gained memories of a life that isn’t theirs._ **

Yu turned to look back at Hope, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up as time resumed it’s usual speed. The two Fools looked at each other before laughing, causing the two girls to be confused.

“Big Bro, what’s so funny?” Nanako asked, wanting to be included in the laughter. Yu just smiled at the girl.

“It’s an ‘Inside Joke’, Lil Sis. Do you know what those are?” The Justice shook her head. “An ‘Inside Joke’ is like a secret joke shared between friends and only those friends. So if me and you have a secret joke, and we don’t tell anyone, it’ll be our own ‘Inside Joke’. Understand?”

Nanako tilted her head a little bit. “I think so. Oh!” She waved her hand in a motion meaning for him to come closer. Once on the same level as her, Nanako went to his ear and whispered in it. Yu nodded a few times, glanced at Hope, and stared at him for a few seconds. As Nanako continued whispering to Yu, his eyes slowly got wider and wider. The Fool then started busting out laughing, holding his stomach, tears of mirth filling his eyes. The little girl seemed pleased with herself, and laughed along with her big bro.

**_“What?”_ ** Hope asked, confused at being at the center of the two’s attention.

“Can’t tell you!” Nanako explained. “It’s an ‘Inside Joke’!” Yu eventually stopped laughing and reached over to ruffle Nanako’s hair. 

The rest of the trip to Junes was filled with small talk and laughter, and for the moment, all was well in Yu’s world...

* * *

...Until he got to Junes, where both Chie and Yukiko were trying to insist on them being the ones that cook. 

“No way.”

“But Yu-san, I’m sure by now that ou-”

“No. I’m not letting you two cook alone without supervision.”

No matter what the reasoning was, Yu refused to budge on the issue. One thing he refused to forget, as his pride as a decent cook, was the travesty of the camping trip. Or as Yosuke deemed it, ‘ **Mystery Food X** ’.

Even with the recent Cooking Club activity that Chie and Yukiko have been participating in, more than 80% of their attempts end in disaster, he wasn’t going to let them off easy. Nanako was here, and he refused for her to experience ‘it’.

“So, you're saying if your watching us, we can make the food for our picnic!” Chie exclaimed in joy. Yu sighed in exasperation.

“Fine. But I’ll be watching you two like a hawk.” He declared after two pointed looks at the sheepish Yukiko and Chie. “Nanako, Hope, you two decide on what we are going to make for our picnic.” 

Nanako and Hope quickly huddled together, whispering and plotting about what they want to eat. They both nodded. 

“We want Yakisoba!”

**_“And Spicy Chicken and Mango Curry!”_ **

“But not too Spicy!”

**_“Just the riiiiiiight amount of Spicy!”_ **

Yu promptly slammed his face into his hand.  _ They just couldn’t make this easy on me, could they? _

But they are having fun and that’s what matters. Izanagi replied to him.

“So, Just to make sure,” Yu gave a sigh. “You want Yakisoba and Spicy Chicken and Mango Curry.” The two nodded at him ecstatically. “Chie, you’re gonna handle the Yakisoba, Yukiko, you’re gonna handle the Spicy Chicken and Mango Curry. Me, Nanako, and Hope are going to look for the drinks. We’ll cook this at… whoever’s house is closest.”

Chie rose her hand. “That’s my place!” Yu nodded and pulled out a piece of paper that he tore in two. He began writing down ingredients on the two pieces of paper, before handing the respective items to the two ‘chefs’ (and he uses that term very loosely).

“Here is everything you need for the two dishes. Get what’s on the list, and I’ll stress this next part,  **Only. Get. What. Is. On. The. List.** ” Yu took a deep breath. “I can’t keep babying you two forever when it comes to cooking. I’m putting my trust in you. Please don’t let me down.” The Chariot and Priestess nodded  went their separate ways to get their different ingredients. “Hope? Do me a favor and go get some antacids.” A defeated smile appeared on his face. “I think we might need them…”

* * *

The five stepped into Chie’s house, groceries in hand. Yu took a look around the house, almost in awe. In all his time in Inaba, he never had the thought of going to his other friends houses, to actually see them and hang out with them. While they did go to the Amagi Inn, Tatsumi Textiles, and Marukyu Tofu, he never once went to their rooms, where his team, his  _ friends _ , lived. 

_ Well, except for Rise’s _ , came a thought that he pushed away. He would  _ not _ ruin this entire day with his friends and Nanako. “Well it’s not much, but welcome to my house! You’re all welcome here any time! Even you Nanako, if you ever need help, Big Sis Chie is here for you!” 

Yu heard a small gasp come from behind him to see Yukiko put a hand to her mouth. Before he could ask what happened, Nanako put the pieces together for him. “‘Big Sis’?” She gasped loudly. “YOU’RE MARRIED TO MY BROTHER!?” Chie paled as she realized the implication of her words. Hope looked shocked at the proclamation simply raised an eyebrow at Chie.

“Was that a confession?” He asked. Chie blushed and stammered her protests, but Yu silenced them. “It’s alright Chie. If you wanted to get married all you had to do was ask.” Hope gave a laugh, but stopped as Yu turned to him. “Are you laughing away the pain of rejection Hope? We can get married too, if you want. Yukiko, you wanna get in on this action too?” Yukiko was visibly shaking, and Yu’s playful smile vanished in worry.  _ Oh shit, did I actually mess up? _ The worry dissipated as Yukiko burst out laughing, soon followed by Yu. “Me and Hope will be the Housewives, Yukiko and Chie, you two can be the breadwinners.” He continued to joke, soon having everyone involved in the laughter. Eventually the laughter died down. As everyone started pulling out the groceries, Yu pulled Chie to the side. “Hey, Chie, I wanted to apologize. If this was actually your confession, I just made fun of it and for that I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” And with that, he bowed his head.

Chie still seemed a little shaken from the proclamation Nanako made, but eventually spoke up. “It wasn’t a confession, I was just trying to tell Nanako that she can come here if she ever needs anything. Not that anything's wrong with you! I-I mean, you're smart, you're strong, you're funny, you're attractive, and stuff, but I-I dunno you're pretty much my type and everything. I mean-” Yu stopped her.

“Chie, you’re rambling. Don’t fall for me too hard okay? I’m still supposed to leave next spring. I don’t wanna break any hearts.” Chie nodded. “Maybe in a different universe… nevermind. Anyway, if you're gonna be saying things like that to Nanako, you’re gonna have to come over more often. ‘Kay ‘sis’?” He gave a playful wink, to which Chie laughed at. Then the cooking started and Yu’s entire focus was put into making sure that everything went right, with Yukiko asking various questions throughout the cooking process.

* * *

As the three chefs were putting away the food into containers for the picnic, Hope was busy talking to Nanako.  **_“Hey Nanako, do you like ice-skating?”_ ** The Justice Arcana seemed confused by the randomness of the question.

“I, uh, I never have been ice-skating before.” She answered truthfully. Hope nodded in understanding.

**_“I see. Would you like to learn how to?”_ **

“But Inaba doesn’t have any ice-skating places. Where would we be going?” Hope looked left and right, as if checking to see if anyone is watching them. The Amnesiac then whispered to Nanako.

**_“Can you keep a secret, Nanako?”_ ** The young girl nodded, with eyes wide in wonder.

**_“I’m Magical.”_ ** and with those two words, he created a  **Cure** orb in front of her. Nanako jumped at the sight and almost fell out of her chair.

“W-wow!” She whispered, awe filling her entire being. “W-what can you do?” Hope smiled at her.

**_“Well, this orb can heal you. See watch.”_ ** And with that, he gently pushed the orb into her chest. Nanako gasped.

“It’s gone!” she started to bounce. “And I feel better too!” 

Hope chuckled and created a new orb, this one a  **Protect** spell.  **_“And this one can protect you from being hurt by physical things. Watch, I’m gonna give you a hard high-five, okay?”_ ** Nanako seemed a little apprehensive, but raised her hand anyway. Hope slapped their hands together, and Nanako winced in pain. He quickly gave her a  **Cure** with one hand, and pushed the  **Protect** to her. The Velvet Fool then gave her the same high-five he did previously.

Nanako was surprised to see that the pain she was expecting never arrived. She started to bounce up and down again, joy in her eyes. “Wow! You’re so cool, Big Bro Hope!” The two laughed as Yu called from the kitchen. 

“We’re ready you two, come on! Yosuke’s waiting for us at the Samegawa already, so let’s get moving!” Hope smiled as he and Nanako got off the couch.

**_“Remember, not a word, okay? This is our secret!”_ ** With a wink and a smile, the two went to join the others.

* * *

The group met up with Yosuke at the Samegawa, and was surprised to see a giant quilt laid out. “Yo! ‘Bout time! I was thinking you guys weren’t gonna show up. Oh, you guys brought Nanako? Cool.” Yu went about setting up the food and drinks, as Hope went closer to the water, and the three girls all sat around, making small talk with Yosuke. Once he was finished with the food, he turned to see that Nanako was talking with Hope about something by the water, and the others were talking about the upcoming exams.

“Guys, while I can appreciate talking about the tests coming up and our future and blah, we’re here today to relax. No Shadows, No School, just us friends having fun and enjoying our youth.” Yukiko seemed a bit disappointed, juxtaposing Yosuke’s relief. Nanako came up to them and asked something he would have never thought she would have asked, especially at her age.

“Big Bro, where do babies come from?” Yosuke who was taking a drink, immeadiately performed a spit take, and Yukiko and Chie started to blush furiously.  _ Oh dear god why. _

“U-um… why do you ask, Lil’ Sis?” 

“Well, Mai-chan says that babies come from the Stork, but I don’t think so. I mean, how does the Stork know where to go? I already know birds can’t read, so they don’t know the address, and won't know where they would be going. And if that was the case, where would the Storks get the babies from? Is there a baby factory? Is there only one or several? Cause it would seem pretty inconvenient to have all the storks fly to one country to get babies, and then travel to the other side of the world.” The Justice Arcana explained. Yu sweatdropped.  _ With that logic, I can’t possibly convince her it was the stork now! Why must you be smart, Nanako!? _

“Um… well… Here, let me call your father really quick.” And with that he pulled out his cell-phone, and dialed Ryotaro’s phone number. It rang once or twice before his uncle picked up the phone.

“This is Dojima,” came his rough voice.

“Dojima-san, this is Yu.” He announced, worry filling his voice.

“I was wondering why I didn’t recognize the number. So, what’s wrong?”

“Nanako asked me something. She wants to know where babies come from.”

“...”

“... Dojima-san?” He turned to look at the phone, only to see the screen say ‘Called Ended’. Yu closed his eyes and let his head fall to his hands. “He hung up on me.” The Fool says to the others, who immediately start laughing at his predicament.

As he was about to continue talking to Nanako, he was saved by Hope, who came up to them.  **_“Hey! Why don’t we go ice-skating?”_ ** Welcoming the sudden change in topic, Yu immediately shot up.

“That’s a good idea Hope! But wait, there isn’t an Ice-Skating rink here in Inaba… is there?”

Hope nodded.  **_“Yeah there is. Its right here!”_ ** He threw a thumb backwards at the Samegawa. The entire group all turned to look, only to gasp. A solid sheet of ice was covering the top of a section of the river, and Hope had a large proud smile on his face. Nanako gasped and immediately went down to the ice, including Chie and Yukiko who had never been Ice-Skating before. Hope sat down on the blanket with the other two, and made himself a plate of curry.

“You did all of that?” Yosuke asked in awe. Hope simply nodded, unable to speak with his mouth full. Yu turned to look at the other Fool.

“Why did you do this?” His curiosity peaked. Hope held up a finger as he continued to chew and eventually swallowed.

**_“Well, Nanako said she never went Ice-Skating before. So, I figured, ‘Hey, why not have her experience it.’ So Tada!”_ ** He gave a wave of his hand.  **_“That and she knows about my Magic.”_ ** Yosuke and Yu immediately started to try to talk over each other before Hope spoke up.  **_“She’s gonna keep it a secret. That and I wanted to surprise you guys so I told her to distract you four.”_ ** _ Wait a second... _

With that, Yu immediately gasped. “SO THAT WAS YOU! You asshat! She scared me half death with that!” Hope laughed, and soon the boys went to go join the girls on the rink. Yu looked at the smiles on all their faces, and felt the weight on his shoulders disappear.  _ Maybe… maybe it doesn’t have to be all bad. _

* * *

***May 5th, Thursday, Children’s Day, Early Morning***

 

With Nanako spending the night at her friend’s house, and not coming back till the afternoon, Yu was alone in the kitchen, dutifully making small sandwiches. The Fool placed them all in a small sack, and left the Dojima Residence, locking the house up before heading out to the shopping district. His destination: The Shrine. He met a fox here in a previous life and went through all kinds of shenanigans to fulfill all of the requests that he received last time, and could only wonder about what could happen this time. 

So he was slightly taken aback that next to the fox, there was a woman wearing a white hooded cape. The Fox seemed to notice his presence before the woman did, as it stood in front of the mysterious woman and growled. He slowly raised his arms up in a surrender motion, before the woman seemed to notice him. “Why, hello there! Drei, stop that, let the boy in.” Her voice was light and musical, a nice sound filled with hope.

_ Her voice… it sounds like a Summer breeze. _

“Hello ma’am, I’m sorry for intruding upon you.” She gave a small laugh, hand raising to her mouth. Her eyes were filled with mirth.

“I wouldn’t count it as intruding. I mean, there’s not a whole lot to intrude upon.” Yu seemed apprehensive still, so she waved him over. “Come on over and sit down. I don’t bite. Much.” She said with a semi-flirtatious wink. Yu moved to sit next to her, face slowly turning red.

“I don’t believe I introduced myself yet, I’m Yu Narukami. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said with a smile. The woman smiled gently back at him.

“It’s nice to meet you, Yu. My name is Summer Rose.” Suddenly time stopped around him, and glass shattered in the distance. 

**_"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thy bond will bring the truth ever closer to you… Thy Heart shall be strengthened by Death.”_ **

Time resumed and it took all Yu had not to panic. _Shall be strengthened by DEATH?_ _Someone else is going to die?!_

Yu! Called Izanagi’s voice.  Her Arcana, check her Arcana! With a quick glance into her eyes, his panic ceased to rise.  _ Death. _

“Whatcha’ got in the bag?” Summer questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her. Yu welcomed the change in topic, as he pulled out a few sandwiches.

“I made some food for the Fox that was here. I think you called it, Drei?” At her nod, he continued. “So I figured, ‘Hey, I’m kinda hungry too, I’ll go eat with the fox.’ And here I am.” He gestured to an extra sandwich he made. “Do you want one?” 

Summer looked at the sandwich, an emotion he couldn’t place entering her silver eyes before giving a small smile. “Thanks, but I just ate not too long ago. Don’t wanna get too fat.” She joked. Yu laughed along with her, and just bit into his own sandwich. The time he spent with the two was short and peaceful. Soon enough, he bid Summer and the Fox goodbye.

“I hope to see you again, Summer!” He waved, causing a smile to appear on her face. 

* * *

_ If Summer is my new Death Social Link, what happened to Hisano? _ Yu pondered to himself.  _ Is she going to be okay? _

Just because Summer is your new Death Social Link, doesn’t mean that anything bad happened to Hisano. Came Izanagi’s ever stoic voice.  This… ‘Second Chance’, I believe is the right term, has been different than our first experience together. Summer must just be the first Death Arcana person you bonded with this time around.

_ But that’s the thing, before the Social Link was made, all that really happened was us introducing each other. Why was this one so easy to start? Normally, there is some kind of bonding experience… _

We can learn more about it later, to see if the Social Link ranks up just as easy as it started.

Yu nodded,  _ Good Idea, Me. _

The Fool continued walking through the shopping district, stopping in front of the Velvet Room. Pushing open the door he found himself in a very strange situation. The Velvet Room itself was different, and much bigger than it’s limousine counterpart, with a very large disco ball coming out of the ceiling in the back, two smaller disco balls in front of the large one, several pillars and the couches that the Residents sat upon. Near him was Hope, standing by the entrance, a mix of amusement, awe, and confusion gracing his features. Igor was nowhere to be seen, which given what was happening, was probably a good thing. And Margaret and Marie were… Wearing each other’s clothes? And Dancing? Yu and Hope glanced at each other before watching the spectacle before them.

“Um… Hope?”

**_“No Idea. I just walked in a few seconds ago too.”_ **

“... Wanna record this?”

**_“... Is that a good idea?”_ **

“Not really.”

**_“Do it.”_ **  And with that, Yu pulled out his phone, snapping a few pictures and recording some of their dancing and laughter. It brought a smile to Yu’s face as he turned to Hope.

“Let’s leave them be.” Hope nodded, eyes filled with mirth. The two slowly exited the Velvet Room, and continued walking down the street, making small talk with each other.

**_“So Yu, how are your Social Links going?”_ ** The Velvet Fool inquired.

“I gotta list at home, it’d be better if I just showed you. I don’t have the best memory sometimes. Somethings are clear as day, but others aren’t.” Yu gave as an answer, turning towards the Dojima residence.  _ Things are starting to differ from my first go around. It must be that butterfly effect thing. I won’t be able to rely on my memory too much soon enough for the small things. I know that Kanji is next, and that we saved him before the Camping Trip that’s coming up, but I can’t remember the exact date.  _ Yu shook his head, clearing his thoughts as to not get off track with Hope. “What about you? How is your’s going along?” Hope simply nodded before speaking up.

**_“Fool - Yu Narukami. Rank 3. Magician - Yosuke Hanamura. Rank Max. Priestess - Yukiko Amagi, Rank Max. Chariot- Chie Satonaka, Rank Max. Strength - Daisuke and Kou, Rank Max. Temperance - Eri Minami, Rank Max._ ** ” Hope glanced over at the other Fool, before speaking up.  **_“Mine’s a bit easier to keep track of Since I usually Max them out relatively quickly.”_ **

Yu chuckled, “You have a point.” Shortly enough, Yu opened the door to the Dojima Residence, only to be glomped by Nanako.

“Big Bro! Welcome back! Oh, and hello Big Bro Hope!” Nanako quickly let go of Yu and tackle hugged Hope almost instantaneously. Hope’s small smile suddenly turned into a bigger one as he and Nanako embraced. The embodiment of the Justice arcana left to go study for her mid-terms coming up, so that left Yu and Hope to go up to his room.

As soon as Yu closed the Door, The Amnesiac spoke up again.  **_“Justice- Nanako Dojima, Rank Max”_ ** Yu couldn’t help but laugh.

“It took you this long? Jeez.” Hope just rolled his eyes, before adding his own laugh. Yu went to his desk and pulled out a journal, before opening it up to his most recent entry. He handed it to Hope, who looked at the recent page.

Fool Renewed - 3 Hope Estheim. Magician Renewed - 2 Yosuke Hanamura. Empress - MAX, Margaret. Chariot Renewed - 2 Chie Satonaka. Justice Renewed - 1 Nanako Dojima. Strength Renewed - 2 Daisuke. Sun Renewed - 1 Cooking Club. Aeon - 2 Marie. Universe - 2 Claire. 

**_“Aw crap! You're beating me by two!”_ ** Hope complained after counting all of the social links. 

“Well technically, I’m only beating you by one with my ‘Renewed’ Social Links. But with all of my old ones, I’m definitely crushing you.” Laughter ensued, and they eventually heard a knock on Yu’s door. Nanako’s voice called out to them.

“Dad’s home!” 

The two Fools went down stairs, and enjoyed a simple dinner with the Dojima’s. Things were looking pretty okay.

***May 19th, Thursday, After School***

 

“Things are not okay!”

Yu dodged a giant, muscle-man like shadow that was throwing the sauna pits at the Investigation Team.  **_“Less talking!”_ **  Hope called as he ducked underneath another flying pit.  **“** **_More killing! Shell! Protect!”_ ** The Velvet Fool called out as he rebuffed Yukiko who was currently healing Yu. The Daring Gigas was giving them a harder time than necessary, but considering that Yosuke was knocked out, Chie and Hope were fighting Rainy Brothers and Rainy Sisters that definitely should  _ not _ be here. Yu continued to block and counterattack the singular massive shadow, but he was running low on stamina.

“I can’t keep this up!” Yukiko called out.  _ Damn! Gotta think, gotta think. _

**_“YU! DROP!”_ **  With zero hesitation, Yu complied with the other Fool. A second later, a giant fist was where his head was. Yu quickly slashed at the hand and fired a few shots at the Shadow, retreating to get some space between the two. Chie flipped off of a Rainy Sister, landing behind one of the thrown sauna pits, careful not to land on one of the many hot rocks. 

“This is crazy! There’s more than twenty of them! And we’ve been laying on the hurt too!” 

“Hope! Time to test out your new spells! I’ll cover you!” Yu called, as he fired several shots at the Shadows, doing minimal damage to all but a few, effectively aggroing the swarm around them.

**_“Faith!”_ ** A bright white light surrounded the Velvet Fool as the spell was cast. Almost immediately afterwards, Hope leaped into the massive crowd of Shadows, with a mighty cry of  **_“BLIZZARA!”_ ** A large diamond shaped block of magical ice appeared in the center of the swarm, instantly freezing a few, and destroying some others. Within moments, the Ice exploded, killing almost all of the Rainy Siblings in the vicinity. Hope ran out of the black Ichor and launched himself at the Daring Gigas.  **_“BLINDSIDE!”_ ** The Amnesiac jumped off of the back of large shadow and fired several Ruin spells at once. As Hope landed however, he immediately collapsed and started breathing heavily. The Black Mage looked up and saw the Gigas fall towards him, and raised his arms as a way to shield some of himself from the fall. With all of his magic spent, and his protect spell gone, he needed all the defense he could get. He shut his eyes and waited for the impact, only to hear a whoosh of air speed by him.

Hope opened his eyes and saw that Yu was now standing in front of him, shield raised and BlazeFire Saber firing from behind the cover on his arm. Just as the Shadow as about to land, it exploded into black Ichor, covering the two Fools. “ **Bufu!** ” Chie called as she felled the last Rainy Sister. The team immediately let their guards down and collapsed in exhaustion. 

Sighing in exhaustion, Yu spoke up to the conscious members of the team. “That. Was stupid.” Teddie reached inside his head, and pulled out several containers.

“Sensei! Here you go!”

With a lazy smile on his face, Yu grabbed one of the containers and opened it up. An Ethereal light came pouring out of the container as Yu reached in and pulled out a small blue square, quickly popping it to his mouth. As he began to chew, his energy seemed to come back at full force, shown by him jumping to his feet. “Thank Izanagi for Soul Food. Open up you three.” The Fool put a single Soul Food into each of their mouths, and watched as the three seemed to come to life. “Teddie, you think you can give Yosuke a Bead?” The bear nodded and went over to the fallen Magician. Soon enough everyone was on their feet and gathered at the stairs of the 9th floor. “Alright, Let’s go to the next flo- YUKIKO MOVE!” 

“Huh!?” Yu quickly tackled the priestess to the floor as pain flared up his right arm and a loud bang sounded. 

**_Rank up! The Priestess has gained some memories of the past. Thou bond grows stronger._ **

The culprit was none other than a Intolerant Officer, laughing mockingly at the group before raising it’s oversized gun at the Fool. Yu quickly rolled over and fired a few shots of his own at the Shadow. He only saw red. 

_ This is… the Shadow that killed Naoto! This… This FUCKING ASSHOLE! DIE! _ With a cry of rage, Yu charged at the Shadow, firing shot after shot into the beast. In a fit of desperation, the Shadow tried to shoot at the enraged boy again, only for Yu to dodge beneath the bullet and switch the Blazefire Saber into Sword mode.  _ DIE! DIE! _ “DIE!” He kept hacking and slashing into the beast who roared in pain.  _ YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER!  _ “YOU KILLED HER! SHE’S DEAD BECAUSE OF  YOU !”  He pulled back his wounded arm and slammed it into the Shadow’s chest.  **“MEGIDO!”** and in a burst of purple light, the Shadow was no more. But his Rage remained. “FUCK! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!”

* * *

Hope could only watch in awe as the shadow was slowly being destroyed. It was... _terrifying._ **_“Yukiko, Me Patra now.”_** She seemed to snap out of the trance they were all in and cast the spell. It surrounded Yu, but nothing seemed to change. Confused, she cast it again. The light enveloped Yu again, but still, nothing happened. In fact, Yu seemed to roar in anger. Hope raised his arm. **_“Esuna!”_** The pale green Orb appeared and with supreme accuracy, impacted Yu’s head. The Entire Investigation Team watched as the Orb was absorbed into the teen, but nothing changed. **_“I-it’s not working!”_**

Chie spoke up. “That’s because it’s not a status ailment!” The entire team focused on Chie’s statement. 

Yosuke nodded after a second. “Oh I get it!  **Esuna** and  **Me Patra** only work on status aliments caused by spells, like Enraged. But he didn’t get Enraged because of a spell. He got enraged because of-

“YOU KILLED HER! SHE’S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!”

“-Because of that.”

“ **MEGIDO!”**

_ Oh shit…  _ “ **_Yosuke! Get the girls out of here. Take this Goho-m. I’ll stay here. Something tells me this isn’t going to be good._ ** ” Chie wanted to protest but a single look from Hope shut her down. That and the angry ranting in the background.

“FUCK! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!”

**_“Go now!”_ ** with a nod, the rest of the IT departed in a flash of white. Hope cast a quick  **Protect** and  **Shell** on himself, as Yu slowly turned to the Velvet Fool. Pale Green eyes met Yellow, and maniacal laughter sounded from Yu.

Or Rather…

Yu’s Shadow.


	17. Anger

Hope raised up his arms in a defensive stance as Yu’s Shadow turned to him. His maniacal laughter stopped.  **_“ Yu? Buddy? You okay?” _ **

The Shadow tilted his head at the Fool.  **“No. No I’m not.”** It gave a quick laugh.  **“Or should I say he’s not?”**

**_“ Are you hurting him?”_ **

**“No.”**

**_“ Why are you here?”_ **

**“He’s hurting.”** Hope furrowed his eyebrows.  **“It seems you don’t understand. Let me try to fill you in. I am not his Shadow. I am him.”**

**_“ I don’t get it.”_ ** The Shadow frowned. 

**“I’ll try again. I am an aspect of his Shadow, possessing him. I am not his full Shadow however.”**

**_“It’s still confusing.”_ ** Hope shook his head,  **_“ Why are you possessing him?”_ ** Yu’s Shadow laughed.

**“Isn’t it obvious? I’m an** **_aspect_ ** **of his Shadow! The Aspect of Anger and Hate! You heard him earlier, right?”**

**_“It was kinda hard to not hear him…” _ **  Hope answered.

The Shadow deadpanned.  **“It was a rhetorical question. Either way, that Shadow Type was the one that killed Naoto. He got angry which is understandable. But his anger overcame him. I am here to prevent him from getting harmed. I’m looking out for his best interests! With our self dead, we die as well!”** The Fool’s eyes widened.

**_“Oh! So you are here to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. Well, we should get going then. The sooner we get this done with, the sooner we won’t get killed. ”_ ** This seemed to through the Shadow for a loop.

**“You… your accepting me? Just like that?”**

The Velvet Fool just smiled.  **_“ Why wouldn’t I? You’re him, aren’t you?”_ ** And with that, the Fool and the Shadow went to the 10th floor, which was vastly different than the rest of the dungeon. Instead of a sauna, the two were now in a large crystallized area. There seemed to be places that weren’t covered in crystal, but those places, instead of the wooden floor of the bathhouse, were steel. Up above them instead of more crystal, was what seemed to be empty space.  **_“ This place seems… familiar.”_ **

**“Do you remember it from somewhere?”** came from the Shadow.  The Fool simply nodded his head before he began walking through the empty space around them. The two walked for what seemed to be a long while, the floor being much larger than the previous ones. They eventually came to what seemed to be …  _ a train car? Why is this so familiar? I feel like this place is very important. _

There was a screech sounding throughout the area, and Hope’s eyes widened as he cried out to the Shadow.  **_“Move back!”_** Within seconds of moving back, a very large spherical object impacted where they were standing. Noticing the distinct lack of dead people beneath it, the sphere morphed into a large battered mechanical scorpion.  _ I’ve seen this before. But why is it here? And how can I beat it? _ Hope dodged a sudden swipe from its massive tail. The Shadow jumped high into the air and fired a shot from Blazefire Saber, only for the shot to do next to nothing in terms of damage. 

**“What!?”** Shadow Yu’s Eye twitched.  **“You piece of trash! Time for you to get SCRAPPED!”** It switched the Blazefire Saber to the Sword mode and charged the bulky machine. “ **RAIKOUZAN!”** The blade was instantly covered in electricity, and cut through the already battered machine like butter. As soon as the blade was out of the mechanical scorpion, Hope remembered.  _ The Manasvin Warmech, weak to electricity and water. _

**_“Yu! I got a plan, fall back for a second!”_ ** With a glare sent the Fool’s way, the Shadow jumped off of the Warmech and landed next to Hope. 

**“Plan!?”**

**_“Bravery!”_ ** Hope answered as he pushed the orb into the Shadow. He turned his hand on himself and cried out  **_“ Faith!”_ ** The Velvet Amnesiac then pointed at the Manasvin that was getting closer to them.  **_“That’s a Manasvin Warmech. It is weak to water and electricity. Wait for my signal, then use that same move again, okay? This is gonna take a lot outta me, so try to distract it for a moment.”_ ** With a nod, the Shadow ran and jumped over the Mech.

**“Hey Ugly! I think it’s nice how you took after your mom in the looks category!”** Under normal circumstances, a machine being heckled like that would completely ignore it. But for some reason, unknown to Hope, the childish taunt worked. He quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts, and focused inward on himself. The Velvet Fool closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, he felt it. His Magic. It was coiling inside him, wanting to be let free. His Magic now connected to his mind, started to flow inside of him, gently moving about his entity. It swirled around him, encompassing him.  **Water.** Soothing and calm movements. He needed more. The pool of water turned into a sea, the soothing and calm movements now interrupted by waves.  **Watera.** He needed more. That’s where the faith spell came into play, swirling around in the now ocean of magic. The Typhoon of Water magic kept getting bigger and bigger until it was ready to burst. Hope opened his eyes, now glowing with magic, and rose his arms in the air.

**_“ WATERGA!”_ **

* * *

**“Hey, oversized-paperweight! You suck!”** **_Nice one, he’s gonna feel that in the morning._ ** The machine slammed it’s giant tail into the Shadow. Or at least, tried to. The Shadow was now standing on it’s tail. 

**“Hope called you a Warmech, but all I see is a** **Snore-** **mech!”** ** _HA, Got’em!_** The Shadow was sure that if this machine could have an expression, it would be fuming. It turned the Blazefire Saber and shoved in deep into the tail of the mechanical beast. 

**“Hurts like a bitch, don’t it?”** It said as it twisted the blade.  **“You know what else hurts like a bitch?”** Here, a cold glare stared into where it’s assumed eyes were. 

**“Having all your friends die in front of you.”** In a flash, the sword changed to it’s gun mode, and a few shots were fired, shooting through the tail and leaving a gaping hole. Shadow Yu placed its hand in the hole and with an eerie smile laughed aloud.  **“Zionga!”** A large bolt of lightning flew from its hand into the innards of the Warmech. A large shudder from the machine knocked off the Shadow, who flipped in the air and shouted,  **“ZIONGA!”** The bolt narrowly missed the open hole, only slightly damaging the machine.  **“Fuckin’ shit. Hope! You almost ready!?”** The manifestation of Yu’s rage looked over to the Velvet Fool, only to grin wildly. 

**“NOW THAT IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!”**

**_“ WATERGA!”_ ** and with that cry, a torrent of water shot out of both of his hands, circling around each other as they climbed towards the strange city-like landscape above them.  **_Damn…_ **

* * *

**_“Eat this!”_ ** And with that, he threw his hands down, slamming the water torrent into the Manasvin. The force and the pressure of the magical water ripped off the damage tail, and soaked the now barely standing Warmech. Hope toppled over to the ground, exhausted from his sudden lack of magic flowing through him. Shadow Yu took that as its signal. It switched the Blazefire Saber back into the sword mode, and charged the mechanical scorpion. At the last moment, it jumped and dive-bombed, sword pointing towards the beast.

**“RAIMEIZAN!”** Just before the blade connected with the Warmech, it doubled in length, and was covered in  **Zionga** magic. The Shadow went completely through the mech unscathed, and slowly walked towards Hope, not paying attention to the exploding mech behind him.  The Fool hung his head, nearly succumbing to his exhaustion.

**_“ Need to… not do that for a while.”_ ** With that and a smirk on his face, he looked up at the Shadow, only for the smirk to fall. Instead of a hand to help him up, in front of his face was the barrel of the gun mode of the Blazefire Saber.

**_“W-what are yo-”_ **

**_BANG_ **


End file.
